What changed
Binance says it has covered 90% of the $6.3bn stolen in Thursday’s hack, using company funds and its corporate treasury. It says more than $6.34bn has been set aside, with withdrawals targeted to resume on Sunday, 1 November, while the remaining 10% is still being sourced.
Why it matters
For Binance users, the immediate issue is access: whether the exchange can reopen withdrawals with the promised assets intact. Bitcoin, ethereum, Tether and seven other widely traded cryptocurrencies are covered, according to the company.
The scale is extraordinary. The reported loss exceeds the $1.5bn Bybit heist in 2025, making this the largest crypto hack reported so far. Binance has also said around $3bn in stolen assets were frozen after cooperation with law-enforcement agencies, intelligence firms and industry partners.
The reassuring part is that Binance is absorbing the loss rather than passing it directly to users. The uncomfortable part is what that says about the exchange’s defenses: the initial investigation pointed to a compromised engineer’s laptop, but Binance later reported additional breach points and said more than one person was involved.
The outlook is cautiously positive if withdrawals reopen as planned and the remaining assets are found. But until that happens, the 90% figure is a recovery milestone, not the end of the crisis. The US Secret Service is working to trace and recover funds, while blockchain analytics firms identify the North Korean-linked Lazarus Group, also known as TraderTraitor, as the likely culprit. The investigation remains open.
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