In the wake of a staggering $6.3 billion cyberattack on Thursday, leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced that it has successfully restored 90% of the stolen assets. The company stated it remains on track to resume withdrawal operations by November 1.
Reserves and User Balances
Updating its previous reports, Binance stated that the replacement rate of affected assets has increased from 80% to 90%. The exchange assured that major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD, and ZEC, are now fully backed according to customer balances. Acknowledging the more challenging liquidity of the remaining 10% of assets, Binance explained that obtaining sufficient amounts might take additional time.
Binance has been replenishing the missing assets through open market operations and OTC trades, working closely with industry partners. Previously, the company had allocated over $6.34 billion in corporate resources to manage the crisis, which is separate from the approximately $3 billion in stolen assets frozen by partners.
Binance emphasized its commitment to absorbing the financial impact of the stolen funds from its resources rather than passing it on to users.
Funding and Resilience Measures
The exchange disclosed that the replenishment efforts have been financed through its corporate treasury along with a portion of its futures insurance fund. Binance also mentioned potentially activating part of its SAFU emergency reserve to protect users. It clarified that only the surplus of this fund beyond its requisite size has been utilized, ensuring the remaining portion continues to meet risk management standards.
Established in 2018, SAFU acts as Binance’s reserve fund dedicated to safeguarding user assets in extraordinary circumstances. The company aims to restore this protection fund back to approximately $1 billion.
Investigation and Proof of Reserves
As the investigation continues, Binance’s Co-CEO Richard Teng revealed that additional security breaches have been identified beyond the initially suspected employee laptop. Furthermore, President Donald Trump remarked that there is no confirmed North Korean connection to the attack, with the government still investigating.
Blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis have linked the attack to the North Korea-affiliated group known as TraderTraitor. On October 31, Binance released a fresh proof of reserves snapshot, confirming that coverage ratios for the mentioned tokens are 100% or more.
Richard Teng confirmed the investigation’s progress, stating that the inquiry has extended beyond the initial suspicions and identified new breach points.
A detailed cryptographic proof enabling users to independently verify their balances’ inclusion in Binance’s obligation accounts is anticipated to be released by November 3.
