Users of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange globally, withdrew a staggering $3.6 billion (£2.7 billion) in assets as the platform reopened on Sunday following what is considered the most significant cyber heist in history. The exchange had previously halted all transactions in response to the breach, which affected $6.3 billion worth of digital assets.
Authorities, including the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), have implicated North Korea in this major cyber-attack. Binance has stated that it has managed to recover approximately 95% of the stolen assets, although the remaining funds may take additional time to recover. The company has assured its customers that it will cover all losses resulting from this incident.
On X, Binance reported, “Between 06:00 and 15:30 [GMT] on November 1, we processed $4.649 billion in withdrawals and $1.01 billion in deposits, leading to a net outflow of around $3.64 billion.” Initially, there was a surge in withdrawals, which subsequently declined and are now stabilizing as anticipated.
These withdrawals represent slightly over 2% of the $171 billion in assets managed by Binance. The firm revealed last week that it had set aside over $6.3 billion to address the repercussions of the breach.
Furthermore, Binance announced that withdrawals for more than two dozen major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, have resumed. More services will gradually return as security protocols are finalized.
Alec Zebrick, a senior manager in global services at Chainalysis, stated that funds linked to the Binance hack are still being laundered. “We continue to see funds being laundered quite actively,” he mentioned during an interview with the BBC’s Today Programme. “The attackers are layering these funds across many thousands of addresses, utilizing thousands of deposits,” he added.
