Binance Hack
What happened
On May 7, 2019, attackers withdrew about 7,000 BTC, then worth roughly $41.7 million, from Binance's Bitcoin hot-wallet flow in one unauthorized transaction. Binance said compromised user API keys and two-factor authentication codes were used in a coordinated account-level attack. The incident affected the centralized exchange's withdrawal operations, not a smart contract.
Centralized exchange account and API-credential compromise combined with a withdrawal-control failure. No smart-contract vulnerability was publicly disclosed.
Case & protocol details
How it happened
Binance said attackers collected API keys, 2FA codes, and potentially other information through phishing, viruses, and other methods that it had not fully identified. They coordinated activity across accounts and produced a withdrawal that passed the exchange's existing checks before alerts triggered and withdrawals were halted. The public record does not establish the initial intrusion route or a protocol-level software flaw.
Evidence & learning
Attack pattern
Compare incidents →Sources and on-chain records
- report Report cointelegraph.com
- report Report theblockcrypto.com
- transaction Bitcoin withdrawal transaction e8b406... blockchain.com
- analysis Binance Security Breach Update binance.zendesk.com
- analysis Chainalysis: Tracking Binance Stolen Funds chainalysis.com
- analysis TechCrunch: Binance security breach techcrunch.com
Build your security review skills
Work through hands-on labs covering real exploit mechanics, review techniques, and defensive patterns.
