Binance customers pull $4.72 billion after record crypto hack
Exchange says withdrawals are stabilising as it replaces 95% of affected assets
Dubai: Binance customers have withdrawn a net $4.72 billion (Dh17.3 billion) from the cryptocurrency exchange following last week’s record $6.3 billion cyberattack, although the company says withdrawals are stabilising and customer activity is returning to normal.
The withdrawals represent about 3 per cent of assets held on the platform, according to Binance, which resumed withdrawals on Sunday after suspending them for more than two days.
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Most of the money withdrawn was in Tether’s USDT stablecoin, Reuters reported.
Binance said it had also recorded $2.7 billion in customer inflows since Sunday, suggesting that some users continued depositing funds despite the breach.
Binance says withdrawals are returning to normal
Speaking at Hong Kong Fintech Week on Tuesday, Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said customer deposits and withdrawals had largely returned to normal.
He said the exchange remained in a strong financial position and could cover the losses from the attack.
Binance has replenished 95 per cent of the affected cryptocurrency using its emergency protection fund and other company reserves.
The remaining 5 per cent consists of less liquid tokens, which Binance is working to replace through over-the-counter providers.
Teng said the company would release a detailed report on the incident.
Hackers still control billions
The FBI has attributed the theft to North Korea’s TraderTraitor hacking group, an allegation Pyongyang has rejected.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic estimated that the attackers still controlled about $3.28 billion in stolen cryptocurrency, mainly Bitcoin and Ether.
Stablecoin issuers have frozen some of the stolen assets, including more than $1.1 billion in USDC, according to Circle.
Frozen funds have not necessarily been recovered or returned to their owners. Binance’s replenishment of affected assets is also separate from efforts to recover the stolen cryptocurrency.
No widespread panic
Despite the scale of the attack, analysts said the withdrawals had not triggered widespread panic or significant disruption across financial markets.
Tim Sun, a senior researcher at HashKey Group, said the incident had not resulted in a concentrated rush to withdraw funds.
Other cryptocurrency exchanges recorded inflows after Binance reopened withdrawals, although it remains unclear how much of that money came directly from Binance customers.
Binance says it serves more than 335 million users worldwide and handles an average of $95 billion in daily trading across cryptocurrencies and derivatives.
