The exchange disclosed that it was dealing with a sophisticated security breach and had begun working with law enforcement agencies and industry partners to trace and recover the stolen funds.
According to Binance, about $3 billion worth of the affected assets had initially been identified for freezing through coordinated efforts with relevant partners. The company also assured customers that deposits remained unaffected and pledged to absorb the financial losses rather than pass them on to users.
Withdrawals were temporarily suspended as the exchange carried out security checks and strengthened its systems following the incident.
Meanwhile, TRM Labs, a United States-based blockchain intelligence company, has linked the attack to TraderTraitor, a hacking group associated with North Korea. The firm said its assessment was based on similarities between the Binance incident and previous cyberattacks attributed to North Korean operatives.
The breach has raised fresh concerns about the security of digital assets and the vulnerability of cryptocurrency platforms to increasingly sophisticated cybercriminal activities.
Binance said investigations were continuing, with efforts focused on tracking the stolen funds, recovering affected assets and preventing similar incidents in the future.