AFTER THE $6.3 BILLION BINANCE HEIST, CRYPTO EXCHANGES RACE TO LOCK THE DOORS

Crypto exchanges took quick action to bolster their defenses and urged greater industry-wide information-sharing after a record $6.3 billion hack of Binance exposed their vulnerability just as they become more embedded in mainstream finance.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, halted withdrawals after Thursday's attack — which analysts blamed on North Korea — and said it would use company funds to cover the losses.

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said on X that the 'complex attack' may have begun with a compromised software engineer's laptop, giving hackers access to systems used to process withdrawals.

Rival exchanges moved quickly on Friday to shore up their own systems; Coinbase said it made adjustments to its systems that store cryptocurrency keys offline.

The bulk of the heist unfolded in around 20 minutes late on Thursday, according to U.S. blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis, and Bitcoin fell more than 4% on Thursday while ether fell more than 5%, though both recovered some ground on Friday.