Update, Oct. 31: Binance now says the full proof-of-reserves results are expected by Tuesday, Nov. 3, not Monday, and that about 90% of stolen assets have been replaced. Read the latest.
Binance said Friday afternoon it has already covered about 80% of the roughly $6.3 billion lost in Thursday’s hot-wallet compromise, and set out a timetable for reopening withdrawals in stages.
In “Security Incident Update #2,” posted at about 4 PM ET and signed by co-CEOs Yi He and Richard Teng, the exchange said it has set aside more than $6.34 billion in company funds, including $5 billion held in the exact tokens that were taken, such as USDC, USDT, BTC, ETH and BNB. It is buying the remaining assets through market and OTC channels. The loss estimate is unchanged, and about $3 billion has been frozen on-chain with partners.
The update dates the compromise to about 20:05 UTC on Oct. 29, or 4:05 PM ET.
Key timelines Binance gave:
- Withdrawals: a phased restart targeted to begin within about 34 hours, which would be early Sunday ET, subject to security checks.
- Proof of reserves: an initial snapshot in about 12 hours, with results ready by Monday, Nov. 2.
- Technical findings: further detail expected within about 48 hours, with a full post-mortem to follow.
Binance repeated that early findings pointed to a compromised laptop but said later work had “uncovered additional points of breach.” It said it has found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked.
Binance still hasn’t named the attacker. Chainalysis has attributed the theft to North Korea’s TraderTraitor, but no government agency has made an official attribution.
Washington is also weighing in. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that the hack “proves our exact point” and that he wants a voluntary federal registration option for offshore exchanges, with U.S.-style cybersecurity safeguards; making it mandatory would require Congress. He said the CFTC will assist law enforcement. His remarks were commentary on the agency’s Oct. 5 advance notice of proposed rulemaking, which has a Dec. 14 comment deadline, not action against Binance.
Markets were steady into the evening. At about 5:50 PM ET CoinGecko showed BTC at $76,725 (down 3.1% over 24 hours), ETH at $2,237 (down 1.7%) and BNB at $697 (down 1.2%).
All of these are company targets, not confirmed outcomes. Binance’s own support account says withdrawals resume only “as soon as the security issue is fully resolved.”
Sources: Binance, Binance co-CEO Richard Teng (X), Chainalysis, CNBC, CFTC, Federal Register, CoinGecko