Crypto: For CZ, banks are more vulnerable to cyberattacks than exchanges

No digital safe is inviolable. After the Binance hack, estimated at $6.3 billion, Changpeng Zhao highlights the efforts needed to adapt financial security to advances in artificial intelligence. In an interview with CoinDesk on November 3, the founder of the exchange discusses a project that concerns both crypto platforms and traditional financial institutions.

The attacks on banks are a reminder that the risk goes beyond cryptocurrencies and that no one is (yet) safe from new technologies.

Key Points

The Binance hack calls into question the protections of centralized platforms, despite their announced ability to cover losses.

Banks are also facing major attacks, such as those on the Central Bank of Bangladesh and ICBC.

IT security, customer refunds and fund recovery are three separate topics.

The traceability of crypto transactions facilitates certain investigations, without guaranteeing the blocking or return of the loot.

Binance faces an attack that goes beyond its previous incidents

According to its preliminary investigation, Binance suffered the compromise of a DevOps engineer’s computer. The attacker then allegedly accessed an internal service to submit unauthorized withdrawals. The platform indicates that it has not detected any private key leaks and promises a technical report when the facts are verified.

The exchange announces that it will cover losses with its SAFU emergency fund and its own resources. This financial capacity protects customers against the consequences of theft, but does not demonstrate that the infrastructure was sufficiently secure.

The same distinction applies to Bybit. After the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in February 2025, replenishing reserves did not mean recovering the stolen assets. A rapid reimbursement and an investigation lasting several years may therefore concern the same incident.

The transparency of blockchains nevertheless provides a useful tool: investigators can follow some of the movements. But identifying an address is not enough to know its owner or regain control of its funds.

Bangladesh and ICBC: Banks also experience cyberattacks

In February 2016, hackers used the accesses of the Central Bank of Bangladesh to issue fraudulent orders from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 81 million dollars reached the Philippines. A typo notably contributed to blocking another transfer of 20 million to Sri Lanka; it does not alone explain the cessation of the operation.

In November 2023, a ransomware attack also paralyzed the American subsidiary of ICBC. To continue certain operations, its teams transported information on USB keys. Unsettled transactions temporarily created a debt of nine billion dollars to BNY Mellon, leading the parent company to provide capital.

Banking protections must also be described precisely. In the United States, FDIC insurance covers the failure of an insured establishment, not directly losses related to hacking or fraud.