Hey, it's Marc.

Welcome to a special PRO briefing of the 51 Insights digital asset newsletter on:

how Binance lost $6.3 billion in minutes.

  • How hackers got Binance's own system to sign away $6.3 billion in about 20 minutes

  • Why stablecoin freezes saved almost half, and not one stolen bitcoin

  • Whether Binance can cover the loss, and the math behind it

  • The three open questions that decide what this costs the rest of the industry

  • What to ask your exchange, your stablecoin issuer and your board this week

What's happening: Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, said late Thursday that a "security incident" hit about $6.3 billion of assets. That is the largest crypto theft on record, about four times the $1.5 billion taken from Bybit in February 2025, according to TRM Labs. Elliptic goes further: at its count of $6.43 billion, this is almost certainly the largest theft of any kind.

Binance halted withdrawals. Co-CEO Richard Teng told customers their "money is safe, and we're covering every loss." The company set aside $6.34 billion of company money to cover losses.