Binance founder Changpeng Zhao warned in a recent interview with CoinDesk that traditional banks may be more vulnerable to cyberattacks than crypto exchanges as AI boosts hacking power. Days after the $6.3 billion Binance breach, the largest crypto theft on record, he said exchanges draw attackers first because of high rewards and fast asset transfers, but banks face greater overall risk. “If a crypto exchange can be hacked, banks are in a worse position, in my opinion,” Zhao stated. He called the issue a wider financial system threat and urged the industry to use AI for defense while seeking greater collaboration on security standards.
On October 29, 2026, attackers drained roughly $6.3 billion from Binance hot wallets across about ten blockchains in under an hour, marking the largest cryptocurrency theft on record. The breach stemmed from a months-long campaign that began with social engineering, including fake job interviews and poisoned software downloads that compromised a DevOps engineer’s laptop.
The attackers accessed internal systems, leveraged an AI tool, and used Ethereum’s EIP-7702 feature to control a key hot wallet without leaking private keys. Blockchain firms and the FBI attributed the heist to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group.
Binance quickly paused withdrawals while deposits continued unaffected, and industry partners froze nearly $3 billion of the stolen assets. The exchange pledged to cover all user losses from its own reserves and SAFU fund, later confirming it had replenished most of the missing crypto and restored full proof-of-reserves coverage.
In recent posts, CZ noted that Binance recorded a $2.8 billion net inflow over the prior 24 hours according to public data, signaling recovering user confidence after the breach.
$2.8 billion net inflow over the last 24hrs, according to public data. https://t.co/OxgbeyDHEM
— CZ BNB (@cz_binance) November 4, 2026
In another tweet, he acknowledged that a hack of this scale exposed serious security failures, stressing that no platform is unhackable, yet such incidents reveal preventable weaknesses. He described the attack as a prolonged multi-month effort, called some details embarrassing, and urged full transparency, responsibility, and meaningful improvements while learning from criticism as a shareholder.
A hack of this scale means serious security failures occurred. No platform is unhackable, but that cannot be an excuse. Every incident exposes weaknesses that should have been prevented.
Some details are embarrassing. Public explanations also simplify what appears to have been a… https://t.co/ZMAjZt2hF8
— CZ BNB (@cz_binance) November 4, 2026
