Binance recorded $3.64 billion in withdrawals after bringing its cryptocurrency exchange back online on Sunday following a $6.3 billion theft attributed by the FBI to a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group. The withdrawals represented 2.1% of the exchange’s assets.
The company said outflows had begun to stabilize after an initial surge and that deposit volumes remained substantial. Binance calculated its figure from withdrawals and deposits recorded by 1530 GMT, while crypto analytics platform DefiLlama reported higher outflows of $4.36 billion. A Binance spokesperson said that figure did not include transfers into the exchange’s new hot wallet.
Binance said it had covered 95% of the stolen assets, including approximately $6 billion in replacement cryptocurrencies purchased with company funds. The remaining 5% consists of less liquid assets that could take longer to obtain in the required quantities.
Withdrawals were restored in phases, with the first stage prioritizing 15 tokens based on customer demand over the previous week. The initial group included bitcoin, ether, some USDC and USDT stablecoin-related assets, and dogecoin.
The theft was described by analysts as potentially the largest financial robbery ever. The FBI said on Saturday that the TraderTraitor unit was responsible and that members had converted stolen assets into ether. The agency also warned that further laundering could occur through related technology. US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis had likewise identified similarities with previous attacks linked to North Korea.
US President Donald Trump said it remained unclear whether North Korea was involved, adding that the United States would address the matter with Pyongyang if that connection were confirmed.
Binance said it would absorb the financial impact of the breach and had allocated about $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the losses. Replacement tokens were purchased using money from its $1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users, its Futures Insurance Fund and its corporate treasury. Co-CEO Yi He said the company would use half of the SAFU reserve and replenish it to approximately $1 billion.
The exchange has also worked with other cryptocurrency firms to freeze affected assets, reporting that about $3 billion had been located by Friday. Co-CEO Richard Teng described the incident as a complex attack involving a compromised laptop and malicious software intended to erase evidence.
Binance said it had 335 million registered users worldwide and $171 billion in total assets under management as of October 28. Founder Changpeng Zhao thanked US law enforcement agencies for helping track and freeze stolen assets.
Sources: Investing.com News.