Binance reopens more withdrawals after $6.3 billion breach

Binance is reopening withdrawals for more crypto assets after a security incident it estimates caused $6.3 billion in losses, giving customers access to more of their funds while the exchange continues its recovery. The Associated Press reported Binance’s initial account of the incident, including the estimated impact and suspected route into its systems.

In its Nov. 3 recovery update, Binance said the latest group of withdrawals would begin reopening at 04:00 UTC that day. Access is being restored gradually, as each asset and network passes security and readiness checks. Binance said deposits remain open.

Which withdrawals are reopening?

Binance listed assets across networks including BSC, Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Tron. The list includes bitcoin, ether, XRP, solana and several stablecoins, among other tokens. The exchange said it will add assets as they are ready, and advised customers to check the withdrawal page for their specific token and network.

Some withdrawals may take longer or fail temporarily during the rollout, Binance said, citing traffic and ongoing checks. The update follows an initial reopening phase on Nov. 1. Binance said then that it was taking a cautious, phased approach and that some assets would remain unavailable until checks were complete.

What does Binance say happened to the funds?

Binance’s initial investigation suggested an attacker may have used a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer to access a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions. A service container is a software environment used to run parts of an application. Binance said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked.

The exchange said roughly $3 billion in affected assets had been frozen on-chain in its initial recovery update. Binance later reported that affected assets were about 90% replenished, with the remaining tokens taking longer because they had lower market liquidity. That update said the company would cover the losses, using company funds and portions of its SAFU emergency fund and futures insurance fund.

Binance has not published its full incident review. It says it will share more technical details after the investigation is complete. Its latest update repeats that losses will not be passed on to users, while the phased reopening continues.

References

• Nov. 3 recovery update — binance.com