Where Did Binance's Stolen $6 Billion Go?

The episode argues that the $6.3 billion Binance theft was only the beginning of a much larger laundering operation. The attackers first exploited hot wallets and an internal signing service, then rushed funds through lending protocols, decentralized exchanges, and cross-chain bridges before stablecoin freezes could fully lock them down. A major part of the haul was converted out of USDT and USDC, while the rest moved into wallets and assets that were harder or impossible for issuers to freeze.

The host says the laundering was preplanned: operator wallets were funded through Tornado Cash before the theft, and the stolen assets were pushed through about 12,000 wallets across 11 blockchains in under four days. The rush to escape freezes caused heavy slippage, with one estimate putting trading losses at $119 million. Tether, Circle, Ripple, and Aave all moved to freeze or pause parts of the flow, and by October 31 about $3 billion was reportedly locked up.

The episode also says the money is still moving, with around $3.3 billion remaining in thief-controlled addresses, mostly Bitcoin and Ether. It adds that the investigative ecosystem itself was shaken when Chain Analysis, whose Reactor tool is widely used to trace illicit crypto, disclosed a security incident and temporarily took systems offline.