Binance Restores 90% of $6.3 Billion Stolen Crypto Using Own Funds

Binance said it has restored 90% of the assets lost in the record $6.3 billion hack by buying back the tokens with its own money. Co‑CEO Richard Teng announced that the exchange used around $6.34 billion from its own funds, including part of the $1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users, its Futures insurance fund and corporate treasury, to purchase replacement tokens. The remaining 10% of the stolen assets are less liquid tokens that will take longer to replace, and Binance pledged to cover those losses as well, assuring users they will not bear any financial impact. Prices of major cryptocurrencies fell on Friday as the breach was disclosed. Analysts have pointed to North Korea as the likely source of the attack. Teng described the breach as a “complex attack” that involved a compromised laptop and malicious software designed to erase evidence. Binance temporarily halted customer withdrawals after the hack but said withdrawals would resume on Sunday. The firm also took a new snapshot of all assets on its platform at 00:00 GMT on 31 October as part of its proof‑of‑reserves process. Holders of ten listed tokens – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Binance Coin, Solana, USD Coin, Ripple, USD1, RLUSD and Zcash – will be able to verify a minimum 1:1 backing once the full proof is released.

Context

Large crypto exchanges keep reserve funds like SAFU to protect users after security breaches, and proof‑of‑reserves snapshots are a standard way to show that the exchange holds enough assets to match user balances.