Binance has suspended customer withdrawals after suffering an estimated $6.3bn cyberattack, potentially the largest cryptocurrency theft on record, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange said an initial investigation identified a compromised engineer's laptop as a potential entry point, although further security breaches have since been uncovered. Binance has frozen approximately $3bn in affected assets and is working with law enforcement to investigate the incident.

Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs linked the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group, although responsibility has not been independently established. The scale of the breach significantly exceeds the $1.5bn stolen from rival exchange Bybit in 2025, highlighting the growing threat posed by sophisticated cybercriminal operations targeting digital asset platforms.

Bitcoin fell approximately 4% following news of the attack before recovering to trade above $78,000. The incident comes amid a prolonged cryptocurrency market downturn, following a selloff that erased more than $1tn from the sector's combined market capitalisation late last year.

Binance, which holds approximately $140bn in digital assets, said it would cover customer losses using reserve funds and company capital. Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle have also frozen approximately $1.5bn and $800m respectively in tokens linked to the suspected breach.

The attack has renewed scrutiny of custody arrangements across the digital asset industry, particularly among hedge funds and institutional investors seeking to limit exchange-related counterparty exposure. Some institutions have increasingly adopted third-party custody structures to reduce the risk of assets being compromised through trading platforms.

Binance said it had found no evidence that customer private keys were breached and expects to restore withdrawals within 48 hours, although the investigation remains ongoing.