Crypto exchange Binance said the security incident that occurred on October 30 may have been linked to the compromise of an employee's laptop, infohub.kz reports.
Binance posted the preliminary findings of its investigation into the security incident on its official account on the social network X.
"Binance's preliminary investigation suggests that the security incident may be related to the compromise of a DevOps engineer's laptop, which allowed the attacker to gain access to a service container and execute unauthorized withdrawal transactions," the statement said.
The exchange said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked.
"We will publish a detailed technical post-mortem once the investigation is complete and all facts have been fully verified. The estimated total damage is around $6.3 billion. We have worked with blockchain partners to freeze the affected assets, and about $3 billion has been frozen on-chain so far. Binance will cover all losses through the SAFU fund and company funds. User funds are safe. We will also publish an updated proof of reserves once recovery efforts are complete," the statement said.
As an immediate precaution, Binance said it took the following steps: it temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while security checks were completed; it revoked authorization for the affected address; and it engaged law enforcement and blockchain analytics partners to trace and recover funds.
"Our teams are working around the clock to resolve this issue safely and thoroughly. We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and hold them accountable. Please rely only on official Binance channels for updates. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Binance customer support," the exchange said.
Earlier, it was reported that Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, had suspended all deposit and withdrawal operations amid reports of a possible hack. The damage could reach $6.3 billion.