Seven months pregnant, Binance co-CEO He Yi worked through the night to oversee the cryptocurrency exchange’s response after hackers stole over $6 billion in virtual assets, as the company scrambled to restore services, The New York Times reported.
As funds were drained, the company’s top executives set up an informal emergency war room on Wea, its internal messaging system, the NYT report added. Operating from her base in Abu Dhabi, He Yi navigated the crisis overnight, taking calls as late as 3 am local time. As the company worked to resume withdrawals, an informal emergency war room brought together around 100 participants, including cryptocurrency tracers and security personnel. The breach began around 4.20 pm on Thursday, October 29, triggering alarms at the cryptocurrency exchange as unusual transactions started appearing.
Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Saturday accused North Korea of being behind the cyberattack that led to the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is releasing information advising the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion USD in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, on or about October 29, 2026.
The FBI refers to this specific North Korean malicious cyber activity as “TraderTraitor,” the agency said in a statement.
