Key facts
- Attackers drained roughly $6.4 billion from Binance hot wallets across about 10 blockchains, per the newsletter.
- Binance CEO Richard Teng said $6.34 billion was set aside from corporate funds and SAFU to cover losses.
- QCP reported $3.64 billion of net outflows from Binance since withdrawals reopened, per the newsletter.
- Bitcoin ETFs lost $643.3 million on Friday, turning October to a $515.9 million net outflow, per the newsletter.
- CFTC Chairman Michael Selig told CNBC the hack proved his point on offshore exchange rules.
Attackers drained roughly $6.4 billion from Binance hot wallets across about 10 blockchains, most of it within 20 minutes on a Thursday afternoon, according to a daily newsletter published by Decrypt and written by Tyler Warner. The newsletter said the loss was more than four times the $1.5 billion Bybit theft in February 2025, and that both firms attribute the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korea-linked group.
Binance first blamed a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer, then said it found additional points of breach, the newsletter reported. On Ethereum, the attacker used 50 pre-signed authorizations to turn a Binance hot wallet into a contract that emptied itself, which the newsletter described as a failure of Binance's own signing approvals rather than of Ethereum. No private keys leaked, it said.
Bitcoin ETFs lost $643.3 million on Friday, the biggest outflow day of the month, ending a four-session buying streak, according to the newsletter. That took October from a $127 million net inflow to a $515.9 million net outflow. Ether ETFs saw $1.61 billion of outflows for October, their worst month since launch, the newsletter said.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig told CNBC the hack "proves our exact point" and said the issue was unregulated offshore exchanges lacking the same safeguards. He proposed a federal option letting offshore venues register with the CFTC and meet US cybersecurity standards. The FBI and Secret Service both opened probes, with the FBI saying it was working with public and private partners to assess the scope and coordinate investigative steps.
Binance CEO Richard Teng said the company covers every dollar from corporate funds and its SAFU insurance fund, with $6.34 billion already set aside, according to the newsletter. Withdrawals were turned back on over the weekend, and QCP reported $3.64 billion of net outflows since then.