Wild West crypto: Staggering Binance heist exposes sector fragility

NPR | By Scott Simon,

Rafael Nam

Published October 31, 2026 at 7:42 AM EDT

A massive cyber heist of crypto exchange Binance is exposing some of the fragilities of the sector and reinforcing perceptions of the industry as a financial Wild West, critics warn.

Scott Simon

Scott Simon is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First.

See stories by Scott Simon

Rafael Nam

Rafael Nam is NPR's Senior Business Editor.

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