Binance Says 90% of Assets From $6.3 Billion Hack Have Been Replenished

Binance said Saturday it has replenished 90% of the cryptocurrency stolen in its $6.3 billion hack, up from 80% a day earlier, and remains on track to resume withdrawals Sunday.

The exchange is paying for the replacement from its corporate treasury, a partial use of its Secure Asset Fund for Users, and a portion of its futures insurance fund, a spokesperson told Cointelegraph. “Binance will absorb the financial impact of the stolen funds, not users,” the spokesperson said, adding that the insurance fund would remain above required risk management levels.

The update follows the October 29 theft, in which about $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency was moved out of Binance wallets in about 20 minutes, according to USA Today, which cited the exchange and blockchain analysis firms. It is the largest cryptocurrency theft on record, and blockchain firm TRM Labs has attributed it to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit, according to USA Today and Cointelegraph.

What is covered and what is still open

Binance said in an update on X that customer balances in bitcoin, ether, and eight other assets are fully backed, Cointelegraph reported. The remaining shortfall covers less liquid tokens that the exchange is still buying through market and over-the-counter transactions, according to the update.

On Friday, Binance said it had set aside $6.34 billion to cover losses, including $5 billion in the affected cryptocurrencies, Cointelegraph reported. Industry partners such as Tether and Circle froze about $3 billion in affected assets after the hack, but Cointelegraph noted those frozen funds are separate from Binance’s replacement of stolen tokens.

Questions remain about verification. Blockchain security firm CertiK told Cointelegraph on Friday that it needed more information to verify Binance’s claimed $5 billion in replacement cryptocurrencies. Binance has since published a new reserves snapshot, but says the full cryptographic proof is still being generated and takes about 40 to 50 hours to produce because of the computing work involved, according to Cointelegraph.

What the exchange did not disclose

The spokesperson’s statement did not say how much each funding source contributed, did not disclose the insurance fund’s minimum required balance, and did not quantify how much of the stolen cryptocurrency has been recovered, Cointelegraph reported.

Binance froze withdrawals after the theft while it investigated. The exchange has said deposits were unaffected and has pledged to cover all user losses, according to earlier coverage of the hack.

Reporting based on coverage by Cointelegraph and USA Today.