Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement following reports that cryptocurrency exchange Binance suffered the largest crypto hack in history, involving approximately $6.3 billion in digital assets, reportedly attributed to North Korean state-sponsored hackers.

“The reported $6.3 billion hack of Binance should be a wake-up call to anyone who thinks the cryptocurrency industry can operate without strong accountability. Yet, Trump and Congressional Republicans have been set on pushing a deregulatory agenda that weakens compliance mandates and oversight of the crypto industry, not to mention the Trump family’s own questionable ties to the company. Remember that after Binance’s owner, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), gave over $2 billion to the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission’s Chair Paul Atkins dropped the SEC’s slam-dunk fraud case against Binance and CZ, and Trump fully pardoned CZ, allowing him to again get involved with crypto. This massive security breach shows just how much is at stake. And now, millions of Binance’s customers can’t access or withdraw their funds, while Binance is scrambling to come up with billions of dollars to make its customers whole.

“Americans deserve to know their money is safe. This is exactly why I and Committee Democrats will continue to push for strong consumer protections, tougher financial crime and cybersecurity standards, and real accountability in the crypto industry.”

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