Binance pledges to cover billions in stolen assets after hack revives crypto fears

A record-setting cyberattack targeting the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange rocked the digital assets industry Friday, delivering another blow to a sector already struggling to achieve mainstream adoption.

The exchange, Binance, announced late Thursday that more than $6 billion appeared to have moved through wallets connected to a security breach. Around $3 billion of that had potentially been located and frozen across several exchanges, though it was not immediately clear if those funds were recoverable.

Early Friday, the company said it had set aside $5 billion to make affected users whole, and was working with partners to purchase an additional $1.34 billion to cover the total amount believed to have been stolen.

The hack is the latest setback for crypto, which continues to reckon with a reputation for being too volatile — and too vulnerable to criminal activity — for widespread use. The scale of the hack echoes collapse of crypto exchange FTX, which, though not the result of a cyberattack, caused billions in losses.

The renewed doubts were reflected in Bitcoin’s value Friday, which fell more than 5% overnight to approximately $77,000, accelerating its month-long downturn. Other affected cryptocurrencies fell as much as 9%.

The crypto industry was already reeling…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business