Binance Covers 90% of $6.3 Billion in Hack Losses, Targets Nov. 1 Withdrawal Restart

Binance, the global cryptocurrency exchange, has covered 90% of customer assets stolen in a massive hack and is accelerating efforts to restore withdrawal services.

Cointelegraph reported on October 31 that Binance had covered 90% of roughly $6.3 billion in hacked assets. That was up 10 percentage points from 80% a day earlier, and the exchange said it still planned to resume withdrawals on November 1.

Binance is using corporate funds, its Secure Asset Fund for Users, or SAFU, and part of its futures insurance fund to make up for the losses. The company, not users, will bear the financial hit from the stolen funds, a Binance spokesperson said, adding that the insurance fund would remain above required risk-management thresholds.

Binance said on October 30 that it had secured a total of $6.34 billion for reimbursement efforts, including $5 billion in crypto assets affected by the hack. About $3 billion in assets frozen by industry firms including Tether and Circle after the breach are not included in the reimbursement assets Binance separately secured.

Customer balances in 10 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ether, are fully backed, Binance said. The assets not yet covered are some lower-liquidity tokens, which the exchange is still acquiring through market purchases and over-the-counter trades.

Verification of the reimbursement assets is still under way. CertiK, the blockchain security firm, said more information is needed to verify the $5 billion in crypto assets Binance said it had secured. Binance disclosed an updated reserve snapshot, but said generating a full zero-knowledge proof would take about 40 to 50 hours.

Separately, the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified the North Korea-linked hacking group TraderTraitor as being behind the attack. The incident is considered the largest hack in the history of the crypto industry.