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Binance says it has covered 90% of losses from $6.3B hack

Binance says it has covered 90% of losses from a $6.3 billion hack, but withdrawals remain paused as it works to cover the rest and investigate the breach.

The Onchain Brief Editors2 min read
Binance says it has covered 90% of losses from $6.3B hack

Binance says it has set aside funds to cover 90% of the assets stolen in a breach it values at about $6.3 billion. In its latest security update on Saturday, the exchange said users would not bear the loss. Withdrawals remained paused while Binance worked to restore them.

The theft appears to be the largest crypto heist on record. The Associated Press reported that blockchain firm TRM Labs traced about $6.36 billion leaving Binance wallets across 10 blockchains, mostly within about 20 minutes.

How is Binance covering the stolen assets?

Binance says it is using its company treasury, part of its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), and some of its futures insurance fund. SAFU is an emergency reserve Binance set up to protect users during events such as security breaches.

The exchange says 10 listed tokens, including bitcoin, ether, USDT and USDC, are now fully backed. The remaining 10% of the affected value is in other, less liquid tokens, which Binance says may take longer to buy in the amounts needed. It says it will keep buying those assets through regular and over-the-counter markets.

Binance also published a new reserve snapshot dated 00:00 UTC on Saturday. A full proof, which lets users check whether their assets are backed, is expected by Tuesday, Nov. 3, according to the exchange.

What does Binance say about the breach?

Binance’s initial investigation pointed to a compromised engineer’s laptop, but the company says later work found additional points of breach. It has found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked. The full attack sequence and who carried it out remain unconfirmed.

Blockchain firms have pointed to a North Korean hacking unit, the AP reported, but Binance says it is working with law enforcement to confirm who was responsible. The exchange has not released its technical post-mortem.

When will withdrawals resume?

Binance said it remained on track to reopen withdrawals on Sunday, Nov. 1, subject to security checks. It said deposits and other unaffected platform services remained operational. Its update did not say trading had been halted.

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