The world’s largest cryptocurrency platform has been hit by one of the most severe hacks in history, affecting several billion dollars of digital assets and forcing it to freeze customer accounts.

Binance said on Thursday that some $6.3bn (£4.7bn) had been impacted by the attack, half of which has been frozen but still in its control. The other half remains in the hands of the hackers, according to the crypto giant, which promised to “cover all losses”.

The incident appeared to be triggered by an engineer’s laptop being compromised, granting the hacker access to the group’s systems to make withdrawals. Analysts have suggested the hack was carried out by a North Korean unit, though its involvement has not been confirmed.

A TRM Labs report pointed to several elements of the attack show similarities to a 2025 hack on the Bybit exchange – believed to be the next largest in history – which was carried out by North Korea’s Trader Traitor.

The research house’s head of policy Ari Redbord said the Binance hack was a “watershed moment” on a scale the industry had not seen.

Binance: User funds ‘completely safe’

Binance said its teams were “working around the clock” to resolve the issue”.

“Rest assured that user funds are completely safe,” it added in a statement.

The company, whose founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering before being pardoned by President Trump last year, has some 335m users registered globally. It is believed to have roughly $165bn assets under its control.

It added: “As a precaution, all deposits and withdrawals are temporarily suspended while our security teams conduct checks, secure wallet infrastructure, and trace affected assets, with the close support of our law enforcement and industry partners.”

Major cryptocurrencies fell immediately through Asia’s trading session, with bitcoin shedding over three per cent to fall to a six-week low. Shares in Binance rival Coinbase also fell some 4.8 per cent and Strategy – a ‘crypto treasury’ that takes debt-fuelled bets on bitcoin – fell some six per cent in after hours US trading.

Zhao said the incident “does look like a hack on Binance”, adding that while he does not over see day-to-day management of the firm any more, “as a shareholder I expect all user funds will be fully covered.

“It may further dampen risk appetite and prompt investors to reassess the safety of assets held on centralised exchanges, as well as counterparty, solvency and liquidity risks,” said Tim Sun, senior researcher at Hashkey Group, based in Hong Kong.