It’s spooky season for your digital wallet

TL;DR: Yesterday, there were two hacks on sites where people keep and spend a whole lot of money: one on crypto exchange Binance and another on Polymarket. These thefts cap off a dizzying run of cyber vulnerabilities and breaches—an onslaught that AI is accelerating—and come as individual users increasingly trust AI to handle their money.

What happened: We might have just witnessed the biggest heist in history: About $6.3 billion in digital funds was siphoned away from Binance—the majority of it yoinked in about 20 minutes, per crypto analytics firm TRM Labs. Meanwhile, hackers took at least $2.6 million from Polymarket users.

Both sites temporarily suspended some activity on their platforms and promised to make affected users whole. Cryptocurrency firms like Tether and Circle, which issued some of the tokens the hackers stole from Binance, have managed to freeze nearly $3 billion worth of stolen funds. But the rest of it is likely gone for good.

A who—and how—dunnit: The prime suspect in the Binance hack right now, per blockchain researchers, is a group of North Korean hackers that pulled off a $1.5 billion heist on crypto platform Bybit in 2025.

Details of how the thieves orchestrated this enormous cyber robbery are still being uncovered, but hackers may have gained access to an employee’s laptop—though there were also “additional points of breach,” per Binance.

Your wallet, now with more holes: Maybe you’re not exactly surprised that these hacks hit a crypto exchange and prediction market—but the danger isn’t limited to these platforms. Cybersecurity scares have come at a breathless clip lately (including the potentially internet-breaking PHP flaws last week) as AI agents get better at finding vulnerabilities and breaching sites, and as people hand them everyday tasks involving their money.

Some major US banks are now blocking personal AI agents from accessing customer accounts, because it’s hard to vet which are genuinely authorized. And they’re begging you not to share your banking details with anyone, even if it’s your own friendly AI helper. It’s also unclear whether you’d be protected if you give your login to an AI bot. Per an email Bank of America sent out recently: “If you do share your credentials, keep in mind that you’re responsible for activity resulting from that access.”

Bottom line: We’re living in a never-before-seen era of cyber mishaps—and as helpful AI tools offer to pay your bills and order your groceries, the question of who you should trust with your money is now thornier than ever. —WK