Hackers just stole $6 billion in crypto in a matter of minutes. It’s not the first time, and it likely won’t be the last | CNN Business
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For years, the crypto industry has tried to shed its affiliation with crime while marketing itself as a safe alternative to traditional banking and investing. But once again, a record-shattering heist is deepening concerns about crypto’s vulnerabilities.
Binance suspended withdrawals Thursday after hackers made off with more than $6 billion in crypto assets.
Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg/Getty Images
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For years, the crypto industry has tried to shed its affiliation with crime while marketing itself as a safe alternative to traditional banking and investing. But once again, a record-shattering heist is deepening concerns about crypto’s vulnerabilities.
On Thursday, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, saw more than $6 billion siphoned from its system in the span of about 20 minutes. About half of those funds were linked to a kind of cryptocurrency known as stablecoins, which were quickly frozen by the firms that issue them. The other funds were tied up in digital tokens such as bitcoin and ether, which don’t have centralized governing authorities and are likely impossible to recover, according to crypto researchers.
