Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is attempting to recover $6.3 billion stolen in a cyber-attack it describes as the largest ever of its kind. The company has linked the hack to North Korea, whose state-sponsored hacking groups—most notably the Lazarus Group—have been responsible for a string of major crypto thefts in recent years, with stolen funds used to support the country's weapons programs.
North Korean hackers have increasingly targeted cryptocurrency platforms because crypto theft offers a way to generate hard currency despite heavy international sanctions. The scale of this theft—$6.3 billion—would dwarf previous record crypto hacks, such as the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in early 2025, also attributed to North Korea.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa did withdraw from public engagements due to ill health after returning from the BRICS summit in New Delhi, but his office did not link it to the summit. India's Ministry of External Affairs called claims that multiple world leaders fell ill after the summit "fake" and "misleading," and no other leader is reported to have fallen ill. Claims about Xi Jinping fainting or suffering a stroke are unconfirmed and were denied by Indian officials.
Binance is attempting to recover $6.3 billion stolen in a cyber-attack it describes as the largest ever of its kind, which it links to North Korea. This is consistent with a long pattern of North Korean state-sponsored hacking of crypto platforms.
The G20 "family photo" was cancelled at the Atlanta summit after European foreign ministers refused to be pictured with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, reflecting ongoing Western isolation of Russia over the Ukraine war.
Christa Pike, a Tennessee death row inmate, survived a lethal injection attempt in September and has now made her first public statement, saying she woke up "confused and in pain."
Canada has ended a 55-year-old avalanche dog rescue program in the Rocky Mountains as part of gover
BThe rumor is already outrunning the facts: world leaders went to New Delhi for BRICS and came back sick.
BI saw the post. It names Xi Jinping and Ramaphosa and says 'some come back sick.' That's the entire evidence.
BOne correction before anything else: the post calls it a G20 meeting. It wasn't. It was BRICS.
BRight—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. Not the G20.
BCyril Ramaphosa did withdraw from public events after the summit. His office said ill health.
BBut they never linked it to the summit. That's the piece people leave out.
BIndia's foreign ministry called the whole claim fake and misleading. That's a direct quote.
BSo one leader, one illness, zero connection—and now it's a global poisoning plot.
BThat's what gets me. It didn't need to become a conspiracy. A 72-year-old man got sick.
BIt always becomes a conspiracy with BRICS. Russia, China, India, South Africa in one room—people are primed to see intrigue.
BThat's not a reason to spread it. The account behind this had almost no following.
BAnd yet it broke out. That's the actual story: a tiny account's fever dream became a talking point.
BSo why give it airtime at all?
BBecause ignoring it doesn't work. The lie spreads whether we cover it or not. The antidote is the fact-check.
BNo, no—by covering it, we're amplifying it. That's the paradox.
BThat's a cop-out. People are hearing the rumor elsewhere. We can correct it or let it stand.
BIndia corrected it. The denial was fast. It still didn't stop the rumor.
BExactly my point! Denials are fuel now. The more officials say 'fake,' the more people think it's a cover-up.
BOh, come on. So no denial ever works? That's ridiculous.
BI'm not saying it never works. I'm saying the official word travels slower than the lie.
BThen what? You let it run?
BNo, you correct it clearly, like we just did, and you explain why it spread.
BI'll give you this: the summit itself is the real story. BRICS keeps growing, and the West treats it like a rival bloc.
BExactly. That's why a simple illness becomes a thriller. Every BRICS story now gets read through a Cold War lens.
BAnd that's dangerous. If something real happens in that bloc, nobody will know what to believe.
BThe trust is already broken.
BIt is. People say they 'believe' world leaders came back sick, not that they know it. Belief is replacing evidence.
BThat's the modern information war. The first casualty is the boring truth.
BThe post also claims Xi Jinping came back sick. Indian officials denied that too.
BThey called it fake, right? Not just unverified.
BTheir words were 'fake' and 'misleading.' That's about as blunt as a government gets.
BThat is blunt. Usually governments tiptoe around these things.
BExactly. Xi fainting or having a stroke? No confirmation. It's all from these posts.
BSo the most powerful man in China supposedly collapsed, and the only sources are anonymous accounts.
BThat should have been the end of it. It wasn't.
BIt never is. Once it's in the group chats, the correction is background noise.
BBecause a natural illness is boring, so the internet invents a thriller.
BThat's basically the tagline for the entire misinformation economy.
BBut I wonder if India was quick because it's embarrassed. A big summit, and suddenly leaders are sick? Bad look.
BThat's a motive, but the denial matched the facts. Ramaphosa's office said ill health, not the summit.
BFair. But you can see why it looked bad.
BI can. If you already distrust these summits, anything after looks like cause and effect.
BIt's a bias machine.
BAnd let's be honest, the official silence from China didn't help. Beijing said nothing for a while.
BBeijing rarely comments on rumors about Xi. That's their pattern.
BWhich leaves a vacuum. And the internet fills it with poison.
BSo I'm less worried about the post and more worried about how fast it became accepted.
BExactly. The speed is the story.