Simon Campanello: How did the biggest crypto theft in history happen?

What has happened?

- During Thursday, hackers managed to steal cryptocurrency valued at around 6.3 billion dollars, just under 62 billion kroner, from Binance, the world's largest trading platform for cryptocurrency. It is by a huge margin the biggest cryptocurrency theft of all time, and probably also the single biggest "bank robbery" in history.

- Binance states that the breach may have started when the hackers gained control of a computer belonging to one of the company's engineers. Then they allegedly infiltrated more of the company's systems and finally carried out the theft itself - which is said to have taken place within 20 minutes.

Who is behind the coup?

- Early information from two IT security companies points to a North Korean hacker group called the Lazarus Group or Tradertraitor. It is always difficult to confirm who is behind a cyber attack, but North Korea is a likely candidate. The country has, via state-sponsored hackers, stolen huge sums of cryptocurrency in recent years – such as the multi-billion dollar theft from crypto exchange Bybit last year. Revenue from cybercrime is believed to be an important part of the isolated country's economy.

What happens to the stolen goods?

- In the hours after the theft, Binance, in cooperation with other crypto actors, managed to freeze almost half of the stolen goods so that the hackers cannot redeem the cryptocurrency. However, around $3.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency is still estimated to be under the hackers' control.

- Since most cryptocurrencies report all transactions publicly, it is usually possible to follow how the hackers move the money. It becomes a kind of cat and mouse game where the hackers try to make many quick transactions to try to cover their tracks and ultimately exchange the cryptocurrency for real money.

How are users affected?

- Binance quickly came out and promised to take the full hit and that users' money is safe. However, the company has temporarily stopped withdrawals and deposits of money. Early on Friday morning Swedish time, the company stated that they aimed to let users withdraw money again within 48 hours, that is, early Sunday morning at the latest.

- At the same time, the exchange rate for cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Bitcoin has fallen after the attack. An attack of this magnitude not only affects Binance, but undermines confidence in the entire crypto industry.