North Korean hackers pull off ‘largest bank heist in human history’ stealing $6.3 billion from Binance

US officials have previously claimed that cybercrime attacks fund roughly half of North Korea’s missile program.

North Korean hackers reportedly stole $6.3 billion in digital coins from the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, on Thursday evening (October 29).

The heist allegedly occurred after hackers were able to gain access to an engineer’s laptop, and covered their tracks so well that they are virtually impossible to uncover.

Officials believe that the individuals behind the attack are North Korean group TraderTraitor, who have gained notoriety for their sophisticated cyberattacks, using algorithms to rapidly move stolen cryptocurrency across a web of international networks in a bid to make the funds almost impossible to trace or recover.

In the aftermath of the historic heist, Binance confirmed that $3 billion had been frozen, but around $3 billion is believed to be lost for good.

Richard Teng, co-CEO of Binance, said: "This was a complex attack.

It has been described as the 'largest bank heist' in history. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

"Rest assured that we are working non-stop to resolve this, to make the users whole, and live up to your trust."

Addressing investors directly, he added: "I want to be clear, we are committed to covering all hacked losses through our company funds. Your assets are safe.

"We will do everything in our power to make sure that these bad actors are held accountable."

Responding to the cyberattack, trillionaire Elon Musk responded with several laughing emojis on his X platform.

Co-CEO Changpeng Zhao went onto remind the Tesla CEO that Binance holds a stake in his businesses worth more than $1 billion.

"Elon, have a lot of respect for you," he wrote, "But bad time to troll. Please stop. Our SPCX shares (from our $500m investment in your Twitter takeover) are worth more than a billion. Would appreciate if you show a little support. Thanks!"

While they have been able to recover over $2 billion, the remaining billions are thought to be gone forever. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The fallout from the hack appears to have sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market, with several major digital assets recording losses over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin has fallen by 5.3 percent to $77,503.39, while Ethereum has dropped six percent to $2,216.25.

BNB has also seen its value tumble by 6.5 percent to $699.13, with Solana suffering the steepest decline of the four, down 7.7 percent to $94.57.

Binance is now cooperating with the FBI as investigators work to establish the full extent of the attack.

A statement from the FBI said the bureau was 'aware of the incident and is engaged with relevant public and private partners to understand the scope of the activity, evaluate potential impacts, and coordinate appropriate investigative steps'.