Crypto firm Binance covers 90% of losses after $6.3bn hack — SkimNews
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- Binance said it had replenished 90% of the $6.3bn assets stolen in Thursday’s hack, set aside more than $6.34bn in company funds and would absorb the financial impact rather than place it on users; the remaining 10% had not yet been sourced in the required amounts.
- North Korea was blamed by the FBI for Thursday’s theft, while two analytics firms separately told the BBC they had robust intelligence pointing to the state-backed Lazarus Group, also known as TraderTraitor, as the likely culprit.
- US Secret Service said it was working around the clock with private-sector partners to identify, freeze, trace and recover the stolen funds, while Binance said it had frozen around $3bn with law enforcement, intelligence firms and partners.
- Binance remained on track to reopen withdrawals on Sunday, November 1, and said it would provide another update once the details were confirmed.
- Richard Teng said the hack involved more than one person and sophisticated concealment, including a “self-destruct mechanism”; Binance’s initial finding of a compromised engineer’s laptop was later expanded to “additional points of breach.”
- Bybit was the site of a $1.5bn heist in 2025, a record the Binance attack is believed to have eclipsed; the FBI also attributed that theft to North Korea, which has denied involvement in such attacks.
- Bitcoin holdings were covered under Binance’s loss-absorption plan, as were all ethereum and Tether holdings and seven other widely traded crypto assets.
Why it matters: Binance’s users gain protection from the $6.3bn loss because the exchange has reserved more than $6.34bn and says withdrawals are on track to reopen Sunday, November 1. But 10% remains unsourced, roughly $3bn has been frozen, and the investigation is ongoing, so the reimbursement and recovery process is not complete.
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