California · North Weekly
By October 30, 2026 / 7:22 PM EDT / CBS Boston Add CBS News on Google It's the cyber version of a smash and grab. Hackers siphoned more than $6 billion in cryptocurrency in 20 minutes from Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world. "For too long, we've asked the question, 'what's the return on my money?' Now people are starting to ask the question of, 'am I going to get a return of my money,'" said Larry Glazer, a managing partner at the investment adviser firm Mayflower Advisors.
The company says on social media that the breach may have involved a compromised laptop, along with other points of entry. Multiple tech security firms took to social media, believing it could be the work of an elite hacking group out of North Korea. "It could be first into a personal laptop, and then that personal laptop might be connected to something else, and onward and onward to kind of exploit the process," explained cybersecurity expert Peter Tran.
Tran says the problem now becomes getting the money back . It isn't like a bank heist. There's no exploding bag of blue dye.
"In this case, that's really one of the weak spots in cryptocurrency is that once it's out, it's fully tradable," said Tran. Binance has now frozen $3 billion worth of assets, telling users they will cover all losses. "This is why we need tighter guardrails and governance around these types of trading platforms because it then touches other currencies as well," said Tran.
"Literally every financial institution in the greater New England area is getting tested on a daily basis and the tests are getting more and more difficult," Glazer said of hackers. Glazer says the rise of AI is making it hard to determine if the user is really that person, now that most transactions are done online with no face-to-face human interaction. "They can clone your phone number, your voice, your signature, all of those can be forged and copied today," said Glazer.
Tran suggests users hold their money in their accounts while Binance tries to undo the damage. "The best institutions will make you whole, and they'll protect your assets, but that doesn't mean there isn't a better solution in place," said Glazer. Glazer encourages users to consider where they keep their investments after the company gets a foothold on the losses.
"Traditional banking system you can reach back in and reverse transaction systems, but in this case crypto architecture is much different in how it's traded," said Tran. In: Cryptocurrency $6 billion stolen from Binance in crypto hack 02:11 $6 billion stolen from Binance in crypto hack (02:11)
Source: CBS News
