CZ Warns Banks Are in a Worse Position After Binance Hack
Binance founder CZ says banks are in a worse position than crypto exchanges after the $6.3B Binance hack, and calls for AI-based defenses.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao says banks may be more exposed to hackers than crypto exchanges. CZ warns banks should treat the $6.3 billion Binance hack as a wake-up call for the whole financial system, not only for crypto.
“If a crypto exchange can be hacked, banks are in a worse position,” Zhao said in remarks shared on X by Altcoin Daily, and he made the same point in an interview with CoinDesk.
Zhao no longer runs Binance. His comments come days after the October 29 theft, which the FBI has attributed to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group. Zhao did not mention North Korea in the CoinDesk.
Binance Founder, CZ, issues big WARNING."If a crypto exchange can be hacked, banks are in a worse position.""This is not just a #crypto problem. This is actually a much wider information security problem." https://t.co/57NDwNY4Um
— Altcoin Daily (@AltcoinDaily) November 3, 2026
Why Zhao says banks are more exposed
Zhao described crypto exchanges, and Binance in particular as the largest, as first-tier targets. The rewards for breaking in are very high, he said, so exchanges get attacked first. Banks offer smaller rewards, in his view, but that does not make them safe.
He argued that AI is making attacks easier to carry out, which in effect merges the security risks of the two industries. He also called it “a much wider information security problem,” and said shaken confidence after the hack could spill over into traditional finance.
Zhao pointed to US tech stocks, which fell on the day of the hack. He said the drop was not caused by Binance, but that the hack may have added a little to the nervousness about whether any system is secure.
What he wants the industry to do
Zhao told CoinDesk that “the industry needs to use AI to prevent AI hacks.” He expects more hacks in the short term, he said, but believes AI defenses could cut losses over time. He also called for crypto companies to agree on shared security standards.
He addressed customer withdrawals as well. By his estimate, the first $3.6 billion in outflows after the hack was about 2% of Binance’s holdings, which would put the exchange’s assets near $180 billion.
What the evidence shows so far
Zhao offered no evidence that AI played a role in the Binance attack. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has said the movement of the stolen funds looks automated, but nothing it has seen shows an AI agent making decisions. That finding covers the laundering, not the original breach.
Binance has said the breach began with a months-long campaign that used fake job interviews, malicious developer software and compromised employee devices, as CoinDesk reported. Our own coverage covers the EIP-7702 question and the FBI’s attribution to North Korea.
The comparison with banks is not simple. In the US, bank customers have federal rules on reimbursing fraudulent transfers and deposit insurance up to a set limit. Crypto exchange users depend on the exchange’s own reserves, which is why Binance’s decision to cover the losses from its SAFU fund and company money matters so much to its customers.
Regulators are already looking at the AI side of the question. See our report on the CFTC’s scrutiny of AI policing and autonomous trading.
Binance has promised a full post-mortem and an independent review of the incident. Until those are published, Zhao’s argument about banks remains his opinion, not a finding.
