Fed and OCC reportedly check US banks after $6.3 billion Binance hack

Regulators reportedly contact banks after the hack

Officials from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reportedly began contacting US banks on Monday to ask about unusual activity or service disruptions.

The contacts followed last week's hack involving Binance, a crypto exchange, meaning a platform for buying, selling and holding digital assets. Reuters reported the inquiries on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Key numbers and details

• Binance said about $6.34 billion in digital assets were affected by the Oct. 29 attack.
• Binance said $2.85 billion had been frozen or intercepted as of its Nov. 3 incident report.
• Reuters reported regulators asked banks about unusual activity or disruptions.
• A cybersecurity team at one large US bank contacted Binance within hours of the hack, according to Reuters.

What Binance said about the attack

In its Nov. 3 incident report, Binance said the attack began with compromised software installed by an engineer in June.

Binance said hackers later used social engineering, which means tricking people into sharing access, along with stolen credentials and malicious software. The company said the hackers used those methods to reach wallet systems, where digital assets are stored, and carry out unauthorized transfers.

Binance said it has strengthened its security controls. It also said it is bringing in independent cybersecurity experts to review the attack.

What was reported about the banks

Reuters reported that banks have been checking their systems to see whether they could manage a similar threat.

A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the exchange shared its publicly released incident report with all its banking partners. The spokesperson said Binance was not aware of any vulnerabilities affecting those partners.

Reuters also reported that regulators could pay closer attention to how banks manage crypto-related risks. The article cited Stefan Muehlbauer, head of US government affairs at CertiK, who pointed to custody, which means holding assets for others, counterparty exposure, and incident response as areas of focus.

Expert views on security risks

Muehlbauer said it would be expected for the Fed and OCC to check in with banks they supervise after an incident of this scale. He described the current process as how a maturing framework should work and said it was not a sign that regulators were pulling back from the industry.

Dr. Darren Williams, founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm BlackFog, said attackers may not need to break encryption or steal private keys if they can compromise trusted systems and people authorized to move money. He warned that compromised employee devices, accounts or third-party services could be used to move money without triggering alerts, and said greater use of agentic AI in financial operations could add risk.

What is still unclear

The regulator contacts were reported by Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter. A Federal Reserve spokesperson told Cointelegraph the agency had nothing to share about the reported inquiries. Cointelegraph said it contacted the OCC for comment but had not heard back at the time of publishing.

The reported inquiries also came after the Federal Reserve removed a requirement in April 2025 for state member banks to notify regulators before engaging in crypto activities. The Fed said at that time it would continue overseeing those activities through its regular supervisory process.

Original reporting

• Cointelegraph