Binance says it has covered 95% of $6.3B hack losses

Binance said on Nov. 2 it had replenished about 95% of the assets affected by a roughly $6.3 billion hack, and users can now verify reserve backing for ten major tokens, according to the exchange’s latest security update. Withdrawals began returning in phases on Nov. 1 after Binance temporarily suspended them; the exchange says it will absorb the financial impact.

How did the $6.3 billion hack happen?

Binance’s initial investigation said a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop may have let an attacker access a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions. The exchange said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked.

The Associated Press reported that blockchain firms described the theft as the largest crypto heist on record and linked it to a North Korean hacking unit. Binance has not confirmed who carried out the attack; it says it is working with law enforcement to identify those responsible.

What has Binance replenished so far?

Binance says the top ten affected tokens—including BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB and USDC—are now fully backed at 1:1. Its zero-knowledge proof for an Oct. 31 reserve snapshot is available for users to verify.

The remaining 5% consists of tokens outside that top ten, which Binance says are less liquid and take longer to source at scale. The replenishment covers the affected assets; it does not establish that Binance has recovered the stolen funds.

When will withdrawals return across all assets?

Binance says it is restoring withdrawals progressively as it completes security checks. The first phase covers selected assets and networks, and the company said on Nov. 2 that another phase was planned for the following day.

Binance says it will publish a post-incident report after its investigation is complete. The attacker’s identity and the full technical account of the breach remain unconfirmed.

Source material

• latest security update — binance.com