The biggest hack in crypto history began with a fake job interview
On October 29, 2026, something that seemed improbable happened: Binance, the world’s largest exchange, suffered the biggest hack in crypto history. The amount is said to be around $6.3 billion, more than four times the previous record, set by Bybit in 2025.
What’s curious, and what makes this part of the series, is how it began. According to the report Binance published on November 3, it all started months earlier with something very simple: a fake job interview. The attackers approached the company’s engineers through job platforms and managed to get them to download malicious software.
Binance insists this was not simple phishing or an isolated breach, but a multistage attack. Using stolen credentials, the attackers made it all the way to the system that signs wallet transactions and, according to the report, even exploited an internal artificial intelligence tool belonging to the company.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve seen it here before: it’s the method used in the Ronin case (#35), where a fake job offer on LinkedIn ended up costing $625 million. This time, the scale was about ten times larger.
Who was behind it? According to Binance, the latest information from the FBI points to North Korea. The regime has denied it.
Binance’s response was to assure users that it would cover their losses with its own funds. It said that, as of October 31, it had already replenished 98% of the affected assets, which can be verified on its Proof of Reserves page. Withdrawals reopened in phases on November 1, and about $2.85 billion of the stolen funds was frozen.
The market felt the impact too: BNB fell nearly 7%, and Bitcoin ended October with its worst October since 2014. In the first few hours after withdrawals reopened, users withdrew about $3.6 billion.
And the story is still unfolding: according to the firm Elliptic, the attackers have already started moving some of the stolen funds, converting XRP into bitcoin through THORChain.
What leaves me thinking the most is that the technology can be locked down, and yet the weakest point is still a person who receives what looks like a great job opportunity.
What do you think exchanges should prioritize today: A (more internal security) or B (more transparency)?
This is a developing story, and the figures may change. Follow me so you don’t miss story #41