Binance customers pulled $3.64 billion, or 2.1% of the exchange's assets, as withdrawals reopened on Sunday after a $6.3 billion hack. The FBI links the attack to a North Korean unit, while Binance says it has covered 95% of the stolen assets.
Binance customers pulled $3.64 billion, or 2.1% of its assets, as the exchange went back online on Sunday. Hackers the FBI links to North Korea stole billions from the platform last week. Binance said withdrawals were stabilizing after an initial spike.
Withdrawals reopen in phases
Binance said it would roll out withdrawals in phases, prioritizing tokens by user demand. The first phase covered 15 tokens, including bitcoin, ether, dogecoin and some USDC and USDT stablecoins.
The numbers differ by source. Binance said its figure reflected flows as of 1530 GMT, while DefiLlama put outflows at $4.36 billion. A Binance spokesperson said the DefiLlama data does not contain flows deposited to the exchange's own new hot wallet, so it is not accurate.
Binance says it will bear the cost
The exchange covered 95% of the $6.3 billion of stolen assets with company money. Binance said the remaining 5% consists of less liquid assets and may take longer to source. It set aside around $6.34 billion of company funds to cover the losses. The replacement tokens came partly from its $1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users, a bitcoin reserve.
Market prices took a hit as the news broke. Bitcoin plunged nearly 5% after the hack, according to The Guardian, while ethereum dropped nearly 6% and BNB tumbled nearly 10%.
FBI names TraderTraitor
The FBI said on Saturday that the North Korean state-sponsored unit TraderTraitor was responsible. Law enforcement observed members of the unit converting stolen assets into ether, and the agency expects further laundering.
However, US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that it remained unclear whether North Korea was involved. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng, for his part, has described the breach as a complex attack involving a compromised laptop and malicious software designed to delete evidence of its activity.
Sources: Investing.com, The Guardian
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