Binance Resumes Withdrawals After $6.3B Breach, Says It Covered 95% of Stolen Assets
Binance began phased withdrawals after hackers stole $6.3B in crypto, saying it covered 95% of stolen assets and will absorb the financial impact.
The story in focus
Binance resumed phased withdrawals on Nov. 1 after hackers stole $6.3 billion in crypto from its wallets, TechCrunch reported. The exchange said it covered 95% of the stolen assets, will bear the financial impact and not pass losses to users, and processed a $3.6 billion net outflow in the first hours.
- Binance froze all deposits and withdrawals after hackers stole $6.3 billion worth of crypto from its wallets.
- The exchange said it has covered 95% of the stolen assets and is still sourcing the remaining, less liquid assets.
- Binance said it will bear the financial impact of the stolen funds and that losses will not be passed to users.
- Between 6am and 3:30pm UTC, Binance processed $4.6 billion in withdrawals and $1.0 billion in deposits, a net outflow of $3.6 billion, or 2.1% of assets under management.
- The FBI attributed the breach to a North Korean group known as TraderTraitor.
Withdrawal freeze lifted in phases
Binance announced early on Sunday that it would begin allowing withdrawals in a phased process, TechCrunch reported. The company had frozen all deposits and withdrawals after hackers stole $6.3 billion worth of crypto from Binance wallets.
Binance said the freeze was a necessary precaution while teams worked to contain the incident loss, assess its impact, restore affected services and complete security checks. It said resuming withdrawals is a major milestone but that work continues on strengthening safeguards and completing recovery.
As of Sunday morning, Binance’s network status page showed a mix of normal, partially suspended and fully suspended statuses. Bitcoin withdrawals and deposits remained partially suspended, while Ethereum deposits were normal and withdrawals partially suspended. The company warned users to expect temporary delays or longer processing times due to traffic volume.
Asset recovery and financial impact
In its latest update, Binance said it has covered 95% of the stolen assets and is still working to buy the remaining affected assets, which are less liquid in the market and take longer to source at the required scale. The company said its commitment remains unchanged: Binance will bear the financial impact of the stolen funds, and losses will not be passed on to users.
Binance also said it processed $4.6 billion in withdrawals and $1.0 billion in deposits between 6am and 3:30pm UTC, for a net outflow of $3.6 billion, equal to 2.1% of its total assets under management. The company said it will publish a more in-depth incident report when its investigation is complete.
FBI attribution
Binance previously blamed North Korea hackers for the breach. On Saturday, the FBI said a North Korean group known as TraderTraitor was responsible, and that the group was converting the assets primarily into Ethereum, with further laundering likely.
How much of the stolen assets has Binance recovered?
Binance said it has covered 95% of the stolen assets and is still working to buy the remaining affected assets, which it described as less liquid and taking longer to source at the required scale.
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