November 4, 2026

The latest Binance hack is looking less and less like a simple phishing attack. Binance’s latest disclosure of its preliminary investigation shows that the attackers first contacted the wallet development team in June this year through a compromised software supply chain. Then, in September, they approached an engineer through a recruitment platform, posing as a job interviewer and tricking the engineer into downloading malware. More troublingly, the attackers also used internal tools to gain further control of other engineers’ computers, and only then found an opportunity to submit an unauthorized withdrawal transaction. The whole operation appears to have been laid out months in advance, with employees’ computers, development tools, and internal systems all linked together. Binance said it had detected and blocked multiple similar threats this year, but the attackers still managed to get around its defenses this time.

This is also a reminder to all platforms that security has long meant more than just keeping private keys locked away. Binance has said it found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked, but the attackers were able to access internal systems and use their permissions to initiate withdrawals. This shows that every link in the chain—from employees’ devices and the software supply chain to internal tools and transaction approvals—could become a point of entry. The FBI attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a hacking group linked to North Korea, while North Korea denied the accusation. Binance’s published account of the attack is still based on a preliminary investigation, and a full technical report is expected later. Looking back, exchanges are no longer facing just a hacker acting on a whim, but organized, well-prepared attacks that persistently target the industry’s infrastructure. Going forward, exchanges will be judged not only by their trading depth and user experience, but also by how tightly they manage internal permissions and how quickly they can block suspicious activity.

Meanwhile, the results of the U.S. midterm elections have also prompted the crypto market to reassess the direction of policy. Democrats won both the House and the Senate, so the crypto market structure bill and industry regulation may face more debate, and policy progress may become more uncertain. But the election results don’t mean the direction of the crypto industry is already set. How the bill is negotiated and how the two parties work together will depend on what happens next. As the election results became clear, Bitcoin briefly fell to around $75,600 before rebounding to nearly $78,000. The market’s reaction reflected both concerns about the regulatory outlook and lingering pressure from the earlier Binance incident, so it can’t be attributed to the election alone. Everyone hopes the U.S. will give the industry clear rules, but clarity doesn’t necessarily mean leniency. What matters is whether the final rules can make room for both innovation and risk management.

In my view, the Binance incident and the U.S. election may seem like separate stories, but they ultimately come down to one question: for the crypto industry to keep moving forward, enthusiasm and capital aren’t enough—it also has to stand up to the tests of security and regulation. Binance will need to rebuild trust through follow-up technical investigations and security improvements, while the U.S. industry will have to push for clear, stable rules under the new congressional makeup. Of course, market movements will continue to be affected by these developments in the short term. The fact that prices have fallen and then bounced back shows that the market hasn’t reached a consensus. As someone in the crypto community, I still believe the industry has room to grow over the long term. But whenever something goes wrong in the future, people will ask more seriously: How exactly are assets being safeguarded? Can platforms be held accountable? Can rules be enforced consistently? Only by addressing these questions one step at a time can the industry truly go further.

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