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Haipo Yang says Binance hack exposed three avoidable security failures
The Coinex founder says the $6.34bn breach came down to operational discipline rather than sophisticated technology, pointing to shared devices, single credentials and weak multi-signature checks.
Why it matters: The breach is the largest theft in crypto history, and the critique focuses on basic operational controls that other exchanges may also lack.
Key points
- Haipo Yang says production systems were not fully isolated from staff work and personal devices
- He says one credential could operate production services and that MPC signers did not independently verify transactions
Haipo Yang, founder of the rival exchange Coinex, says the Binance hack exposed at least three critical mistakes that were entirely avoidable.
Third, he said Binance's multi-party computation setup was multi-signature only on paper, because signers did not meaningfully verify transactions.
Binance says about $6.34bn drained from its hot wallets on 29 Oct, an attack the FBI attributed to North Korea's Tradertraitor group. Co-CEO Richard Teng told CNBC that the attackers moved through internal AI tools after fake interviews and reached the system that authorised wallet transactions. The exchange says it has rebuilt the wallet system, replaced devices and revoked credentials, and that 98% of impacted assets were replenished by 31 Oct with company funds.
Elliptic found the stolen funds passed through roughly 12,000 wallets across 11 blockchains in under four days.
What to watch: Coinex withdrawals remain open until 22 Dec 2026, as the exchange winds down.
Live updates on NewsFeeds:AltcoinsDesk editor: Keshav Aggarwal (accountable for this page; this summary was not edited by hand)
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Not investment advice. Read the risk disclaimer.