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North Korean hackers are suspected of stealing about $6.3 billion from Binance, which suspended withdrawals and froze part of the stolen funds. Bitcoin and Binance's own token fell. Falling prices and shaken trust tend to keep everyday traders away, which hurts Coinbase because it earns a fee on every crypto trade.
Source: The New York Times ↗
When a big crypto exchange gets robbed, fewer people want to trade, and the exchanges that earn a fee on every trade earn less.
Hackers emptied wallets at Binance in about 20 minutes, so it locked withdrawals while it checks its systems. Investigators suspect a hacked engineer's laptop, not leaked master passwords. Bitcoin and BNB fell on the news.
Crypto exchanges earn a small fee on every trade, so their income depends on how often customers trade. When prices fall and a big exchange looks unsafe, many casual traders step back and wait. It works like a shopping mall after a robbery, where the shops stay open but fewer people walk in.
Coinbase makes much of its money from crypto trading fees, so a quieter market means fewer fees for it. After the FTX collapse in 2022, its transaction revenue fell from about $366 million in Q3 2022 to $322 million in Q4 2022 and stayed below 2022 levels through 2023. This hack could be milder because Binance says it will repay customers. That's why the size of the hit is still unclear.
Binance reported a suspected theft of about $6.3 billion across wallets on 10 blockchains, most of it moved within about 20 minutes. Two analytics firms tied it to North Korea's TraderTraitor unit. Binance froze roughly $2.5 billion to $3 billion of the assets and suspended withdrawals. It said it would cover customer losses. On October 30 it said deposits were running normally and withdrawals would resume within 48 hours. Bitcoin and BNB, Binance's own token, fell. The effect reaches US exchanges through trading fees. Coinbase Global (COIN) earns money when customers trade crypto. It reported $1.2 billion in revenue for the quarter ended September 30, of which $590 million came from transaction fees. Crypto trading volumes were already falling: consumer spot volume fell 9% from the previous quarter. How far trading will fall after the hack is not yet known.
The hack became public after US markets closed on October 29, the same evening Coinbase reported third-quarter results. Coinbase shares fell about 5% in after-hours trading, a move that mixes the hack and the earnings. The stock was already down about 5% over the five trading days before the news.
The link weakens if Binance reopens within the 48 hours it promised, covers every loss as Bybit did in 2025, and bitcoin quickly regains its losses. If crypto trading activity holds up through November, and Coinbase's Q4 transaction revenue holds near its Q3 level of $590 million, the fee damage did not happen.
Coinbase could gain from the hack. If nervous Binance users move their coins to a US-regulated exchange, Coinbase may win new customers and trading. And if Binance repays everyone and reopens quickly, as Bybit did in 2025, prices may recover before trading activity falls much.
After FTX collapsed in November 2022, crypto prices and exchange trading fell sharply. Coinbase shares dropped, and its transaction revenue fell from about $366 million in Q3 2022 to $322 million in Q4 2022 and stayed below 2022 levels through 2023. A milder case was the Bybit hack of February 2025, when about $1.5 billion was stolen. Prices dipped, Bybit covered the losses and kept operating, and the damage faded.
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