Binance to Cover Losses After $6.3 Billion Crypto Theft

Binance said it will cover customer losses after an estimated $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen in an attack on the exchange, the largest reported crypto theft. The company said it had frozen or located about $3 billion in affected assets and temporarily suspended withdrawals while it investigated. The attack occurred on October 29, 2026, and blockchain analysts said most of the funds moved within about 20 minutes. Binance’s preliminary investigation found that a DevOps engineer’s laptop may have been compromised, allowing an attacker to reach an internal service container and make unauthorized transactions. The company said it had identified additional points of breach but had found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked. It has not published a complete technical account. Binance said its October 30 update showed that it had allocated more than $6.34 billion to cover the loss and had covered about 80% of the affected amount. The company said the allocation included roughly $5 billion in matching cryptocurrencies, with the remainder purchased through market and over-the-counter transactions. It said the response would use its Secure Asset Fund for Users and...