Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced preliminary findings in its investigation into a security incident on October 30, estimating that the event caused about US$6.3 billion in losses. The company has so far frozen approximately US$3 billion in related assets on the blockchain with the help of blockchain partners. Binance said the investigation and asset tracing are ongoing and that the figures may continue to change as verification proceeds.
Binance said the incident may have been related to the compromise of a DevOps engineer’s laptop, which attackers used to access service containers and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions. No evidence of a wallet private-key leak has been found, and the full technical investigation report will be released once the investigation is complete.
As an emergency measure, Binance temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals, revoked authorizations for affected addresses, and is working with law-enforcement agencies, blockchain intelligence organizations and industry partners to trace the funds. Binance said it will cover all losses through the SAFU fund and company funds and reiterated its commitment to user-fund security. The platform will announce further arrangements once security checks and repairs are completed.
The investigation and fund-recovery efforts are continuing. Binance advised users to monitor information published through official channels, carefully distinguish related messages, avoid clicking links from unknown sources and refrain from providing account information to others.
