Binance has commenced a phased restoration of customer withdrawals after suffering an unprecedented $6.3 billion cyberattack late last week, marking the largest theft in cryptocurrency history. The world’s leading digital asset exchange opened an initial three-hour withdrawal window on Sunday, prioritizing access to major tokens such as Bitcoin, Ether, BNB, XRP, and popular dollar-pegged stablecoins USDT and USDC across 16 blockchains. Company officials emphasized that customer access is being restored through a cautious and monitored approach, with broader services scheduled to reactivate only as individual networks pass stringent security evaluations.
The staggering loss stemmed from unauthorized breaches into Binance’s hot wallets, the connected digital reserves utilized to process routine transactional payouts. According to findings published by blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, the perpetrators managed to drain 18,270 Bitcoin valued at approximately $1.47 billion, over 200,000 Ether, 2.7 billion in combined dollar stablecoins, alongside substantial quantities of Solana and XRP. Security investigators have linked the devastating exploit to TraderTraitor, a notorious cyber syndicate associated with North Korea.
In response to widespread panic regarding customer solvency, Binance assured users that their account balances remain secure and that customers will not absorb any losses resulting from the incident. The exchange reported that it has already replaced 95 percent of the compromised assets by drawing upon company capital and its emergency Secure Asset Fund for Users. Balance sheets for all primary traded cryptocurrencies are verified to be fully backed at 100 percent, with management acquiring the remaining five percent—primarily lower-liquidity alternate tokens—through open market and over-the-counter channels.
Mitigation efforts have also succeeded in freezing roughly $3 billion worth of the stolen haul, predominantly centralized stablecoins like Tether and USD Coin, which feature built-in administrative halt mechanisms. While decentralized assets such as Bitcoin and Ether cannot be similarly frozen on-chain, Binance pledged to maintain transparent communication throughout the ongoing recovery operation. To further substantiate that customer assets remain completely intact, the exchange announced that an exhaustive third-party proof-of-reserves audit report will be published in the coming days.
