Binance sets aside $6.34 billion to cover crypto hack losses

After facing a major crypto theft, Binance has assured users that they won’t lose money over the breach.The exchange is covering the $6.3 billion loss from its own funds, setting aside more than $6.34 billion to make up for the stolen assets. It has already replaced around 80 per cent of the stolen tokens and is working to restore withdrawal services in phases.So far, Binance has bought back $5 billion worth of the stolen cryptocurrencies, including USDC, USDT, Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and BNB. It is now working on getting the remaining tokens back through market and OTC purchases.“This means that we have already covered approximately 80% of the impacted amount. We are actively buying the remaining relevant token assets through market and OTC channels,” Binance said.In its second update on the recovery process, the company said the compensation would be funded through its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and corporate treasury.“We want to be clear about our commitment: Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users,” the exchange said in the statement.

$3 billion in stolen assets frozen

The breach took place at around 20:05 UTC on October 29, when Binance’s hot wallets were compromised, leading to unauthorised withdrawals of approximately $6.3 billion worth of digital assets.Alongside replacing the stolen assets, the exchange said it had managed to freeze approximately $3 billion worth of the stolen funds across blockchain networks. The effort involved coordination with law enforcement agencies, blockchain intelligence firms, asset issuers and industry partners.Binance is targeting the phased restoration of withdrawal services within approximately 34 hours, although the timeline remains subject to the completion of security checks. Deposits and other platform services unaffected by the breach continue to remain operational.The exchange also plans to release an updated Proof of Reserves report by Monday, November 2, enabling users to check the digital assets backing their account balances.

Binance finds additional points of breach in investigation

Binance’s investigation into the incident has also uncovered more details about how the security breach may have occurred. While the initial assessment pointed towards a compromised laptop, subsequent findings indicated that there were additional points of intrusion.“Our initial investigation suggested that the incident may involve a compromised laptop, however, our subsequent investigation has uncovered additional points of breach,” it said.The company said it had found no evidence of wallet private keys being leaked. Further technical findings are expected within approximately 48 hours, subject to verification.

North Korean hacking group linked to $6.3 billion theft

Separately, blockchain investigation firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis have linked the $6.3 billion theft to a North Korean hacking group known as TraderTraitor, Reuters reported.Cybersecurity experts cited by Reuters said money generated through North Korean cryptocurrency thefts has helped finance the country’s weapons programmes. However, Binance has not publicly identified the perpetrators and maintained that its investigation is ongoing.The exchange said it would release a detailed technical report explaining how the breach took place, along with the additional security measures it plans to introduce to prevent similar incidents.