Binance's $6.3 billion hack draws Lummis, Waters and Selig into pre-election fight
In brief
- The $6.3 billion Binance hack is the biggest in crypto history, according to Cointelegraph.
- Binance said it would cover user losses and that about $3 billion had been frozen.
- Sen. Cynthia Lummis said the stalled Clarity Act would have let firms freeze suspicious transactions faster.
- Rep. Maxine Waters called the hack a wake-up call and blamed a deregulatory agenda.
- CFTC Chair Michael Selig said unregulated offshore exchanges lack US-style safeguards.
What Binance has said
The exchange said in a post on X late Friday that it would cover any losses, adding that about $3 billion of the stolen funds had already been frozen in various locations.
That's close to half of the reported $6.3 billion.
Binance said it's working with law enforcement, blockchain intelligence firms, token issuers and other exchanges to trace and recover the funds, and it promised a postmortem incident report once a full security review is done. According to Cointelegraph, the hack was widely attributed to a North Korean group (the outlet didn't say who made that attribution). A related Cointelegraph headline said the FBI and Secret Service had joined the response.
Lummis points to the stalled Clarity Act
Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican and longtime crypto advocate, cited the stalled Clarity Act in a Friday post on X. She wrote that hackers stole more than $6 billion from Binance in less than 4 hours.
"The Clarity Act would have given crypto firms legal cover to freeze suspicious transactions the instant law enforcement calls. Every minute lost is money gone for good"
The Senate failed to pass a cloture motion on the bill on Sept. 15. It would have set up the country's first regulatory framework for digital assets, but it stalled over ethics provisions that would have barred government officials and their families from issuing or profiting from digital assets while in office. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission then sent a regulatory action on crypto asset transactions and markets to the White House for review on Sept. 18.
CFTC Chair Michael Selig also spoke on Friday. In a TV appearance, he said unregulated offshore exchanges don't have the safeguards found in US financial markets.
Waters goes after the administration
Democratic Representative Maxine Waters said in a Friday news release that the hack should be a wake-up call about accountability in the crypto industry. She said Trump and congressional Republicans had pushed a deregulatory agenda that weakens compliance mandates and oversight.
Waters went further than that. She alleged that Binance owner Changpeng Zhao gave over $2 billion to the Trump family's World Liberty Financial, and she said SEC Chair Paul Atkins dropped the agency's fraud case against Binance and Zhao before Trump fully pardoned Zhao. Those are her claims, made in a political statement.
Frequently asked questions
What has Binance said about user losses from the $6.3 billion hack?
Binance said in a post on X late Friday that it would cover any losses from the hack. It added that about $3 billion of the stolen funds had already been frozen in various locations, and it promised a postmortem incident report after a full security review.
What is the Clarity Act and why did it stall?
The Clarity Act would have set up the first US regulatory framework for digital assets. It stalled over ethics provisions that would have barred government officials and their families from issuing or profiting from digital assets while in office, and the Senate failed to pass a cloture motion on it on Sept. 15.
