- The FBI and US Secret Service are now working with Binance as part of a global investigation into the $6.3 billion crypto theft
- About $3 billion of the stolen funds have been frozen by stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle
- Binance is buying back stolen tokens from the open market using company funds and SAFU reserves to make customers whole
- North Korea-linked Lazarus Group has been identified by blockchain investigators as the most likely perpetrator
Federal Agencies Mobilize As Stolen Crypto Tally Hits Record
Law enforcement has increased its involvement in the biggest crypto exchange hack in history after the FBI and US Secret Service collaborated with Binance, Reuters reported.
Binance is working with the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service after a $6.3 billion cryptocurrency heist, according to a source. The exchange said it has set aside more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the incident and has begun recovering affected assets for users.
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 30, 2026
On October 29, $6.3 billion worth of digital assets was stolen in the biggest single theft in crypto history. Binance said it is working alongside law enforcement around the world. Neither the FBI nor the US Secret Service have made any public statements.
$3B Frozen, Binance Taps SAFU To Buy Back Stolen Assets
Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle moved swiftly to freeze approximately $3 billion in tokens linked to the attacker’s wallets. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) estimated the total stolen at just over $6 billion, with more than $1 billion available through Binance’s Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), leaving a gap of roughly $2 billion that he described as “manageable but painful.”
Binance’s SAFU fund and Binance’s holdings include a large amount of assets such as BTC and ETH. We are currently buying, through OTC and on-exchange, all the stolen altcoins in fully matching amounts. We will update everyone again once the purchases are complete.
币安的SAFU基金和币安持有币种包括大量的BTC和ETH等资产，目前正在通过OTC和场内买入完全匹配被盗的所有山寨币来完成POR，购入完成后再次为大家同步信息。— Yi He (@heyibinance) October 30, 2026
Binance is now actively buying back the stolen tokens from the open market using company funds. Co-CEO Yi He confirmed that the company’s annual revenues are sufficient to cover the remaining losses without needing to liquidate any other holdings.
Lazarus Group Linked As North Korea Theory Takes Hold
Blockchain investigators and security researchers attributed the breach to North Korea-linked Lazarus Group, though Binance has not publicly confirmed this.
Initial findings pointed to a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop as the entry point, with an unauthorized Ethereum wallet authorization allowing the attacker to redirect funds from a major Binance hot wallet.
No private key leaks have been identified. Binance expects to restore full withdrawal services within 48 hours of its October 30 update, while deposits remain operational.
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