Shares in crypto exchange Coinbase Global, which said it was unaffected, slid 4.8 per cent, while those of bitcoin buyer Strategy fell nearly 6 per cent in extended US trading.

COMPROMISED LAPTOP

An initial investigation suggested the breach may have started with a hacked laptop belonging to one of Binance’s engineers, which let an attacker gain access to one of its systems and make unauthorized withdrawals, Binance said.

“Our security team is tracing the full attack path through the compromised computer which may be the entry point of the incident,” Binance said.

Mark Karpeles, former chief of defunct Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, which collapsed a dozen years ago after US$500 million in bitcoin was stolen, said attackers probably…