US Regulators Probe Banks’ Risk Exposure After $6.3 Billion Binance Hack

U.S. financial regulators are checking whether banks were exposed to risks tied to the Binance hack, in which $6.3 billion worth of crypto assets was stolen. Banks are also reviewing their own systems to determine whether they can withstand similar attacks.

Reuters reported on November 5, citing people familiar with the matter, that the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency contacted banks this week to ask whether they had seen unusual transactions or service disruptions.

The cybersecurity team at one large U.S. bank contacted Binance within hours of the hack, according to the report. Banks are now analyzing the attack and reviewing whether their own systems can fend off similar threats.

Stephan Mühlbauer, head of U.S. government affairs at CertiK, said the regulators’ inquiries could lead to closer scrutiny of banks’ exposure through crypto custody services, counterparty risk and incident-response systems.

“The authorities’ job is to protect the financial system,” Mühlbauer said. “They need to understand where risks are concentrated and how quickly they can respond.”

Binance said it had shared an incident report with all of its partner banks. It added that it had not determined the impact of the breach on those banking partners.