Binance says it has replaced 90% of assets stolen in $6.3B hack

Binance says it has replaced 90% of the assets stolen in a $6.3 billion hack, a step toward protecting customer balances as the exchange works to restore withdrawals. The company said on Oct. 31 that it would cover the loss with its emergency reserve and company funds. The Associated Press report on the hack said blockchain intelligence firm TRM linked it to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group. Binance has not publicly confirmed who was behind the attack.

How much has Binance replaced?

Binance said 90% of the affected assets are now covered, up from about 80% in its previous update. It said all of the affected bitcoin, ether, USDT, BNB, solana, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and ZEC were fully backed at the time of its update. The remaining 10% consists of other, less liquid tokens that may take longer to buy.

To replenish the assets, Binance said it is using part of its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), an emergency reserve, along with a portion of its futures insurance fund and company treasury. It said it plans to restore SAFU to about $1 billion. In its Oct. 31 recovery update, Binance also said it had published a new snapshot of its proof-of-reserves data, which lets customers check reported backing for their assets.

When will customers be able to withdraw again?

Binance said it was still aiming to reopen withdrawals on Sunday, Nov. 1, after security checks. The exchange had temporarily suspended withdrawals while it reviewed and secured affected systems. It did not confirm in the update that withdrawals had resumed.

Binance said its investigation found additional points of breach beyond an initially suspected compromised laptop. It reported no evidence that wallet private keys had been leaked and said it was still working with internal and external security experts to establish how the attack unfolded.

How much of the stolen crypto has been frozen?

Binance said about $3 billion had been frozen on-chain through work with law enforcement, blockchain firms, asset issuers and other industry partners. A freeze can stop certain tokens from moving when their issuers or networks act, but it does not recover every stolen asset. The company has not said how much of the frozen amount it has recovered.

References

• Associated Press report on the hack — apnews.com
• Oct. 31 recovery update — binance.bh