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Investors pull billions in funds from Binance after record $6.3bn hack
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Investors
pull billions in funds from Binance after record $6.3bn hack
Investors
pulled a massive $3.64 billion in net outflows from Binance on Sunday, November
1, 2026, after the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange reopened client
withdrawals. The capital flight followed a devastating $6.3 billion
cyberattack on Thursday, October 29, which has been officially described as
the largest digital heist in history.
📊 The Scale of the Outflows
When Binance
initiated a phased reopening of customer withdrawal networks on Sunday morning,
it triggered an immediate wave of user redemptions:
- Gross Transactions: The platform processed
approximately $4.65 billion in withdrawals against $1.01 billion
in deposits in its initial reopening window.
- Total Asset Impact: The resulting $3.64 billion net
deficit accounts for roughly 2.1% of Binance’s $171 billion in
total assets under management.
- Current Standing: Binance leadership, alongside
founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), emphasized that the vast majority of users
(~98%) chose to keep their funds on the exchange, and that withdrawal
volumes have rapidly stabilized.
🕵️ Who Behind the Hack?
The U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officially attributed the $6.3
billion raid to TraderTraitor (also known as the Lazarus Group), a
notorious state-sponsored cybercrime unit operating on behalf of North Korea.
- The Exploit: Blockchain investigators
revealed that hackers infiltrated the exchange after compromising a
corporate laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer. The breach gave attackers
access to an internal service container, allowing them to bypass
traditional transaction controls and empty wallet contents in an intense
20-minute burst.
- Laundering Strategy: Chainalysis reported that the
perpetrators have deployed "never-seen-before," highly complex
automated laundering patterns—firing off thousands of rapid transactions
to distribute the stolen capital primarily into Ethereum.
🛡️ Are Customer Funds Safe?
Binance
co-CEO Richard Teng repeatedly assured customers that the platform will
fully absorb the losses and that users will not bear any financial impact.
- Loss Coverage: By Monday, November 2, Binance
confirmed it had already replenished 95% of the stolen assets using
its corporate treasury, its Futures insurance fund, and its $1 billion
Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU).
- Remaining 5%: The outstanding unrecovered
assets consist of highly illiquid altcoins that the platform is continuing
to buy back manually through over-the-counter (OTC) channels.
- Centralized Intervention: Major stablecoin operators
Tether and Circle successfully coordinated with law enforcement to freeze
more than $3 billion of the stolen digital dollars before the
hackers could move them beyond reach.
⚠️ Security Warning for Users
As the
platform recovers, Binance issued an urgent alert warning that crypto
scammers have gone into "overdrive." Malicious actors are heavily
targeting concerned investors with fake compensation claims and phishing links
engineered to steal credentials from individuals attempting to migrate their
capital off the exchange. Users are urged to rely exclusively on official
Binance channels and verified portals for updates.
Investors pull billions in funds from Binance after record $6.3bn hack
.jpeg)
Investors
pull billions in funds from Binance after record $6.3bn hack
Cryptocurrency
exchange has begun to allow withdrawals after theft believed to have come from
North Korea
Sun 1 Nov
2026 18.53 GMT
Investors
have pulled $3.6bn (£2.7bn) in funds from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance as it recovers
from a record hack in which billions were stolen from customer accounts.
The platform
was hit by a $6.3bn theft on Thursday, which has since been described as the
biggest heist in history. Experts identified North
Korea as the probable culprit.
Binance
initially froze withdrawals as it investigated the breach but on Sunday
announced it had begun
a phased reopening.
By Sunday
afternoon, the platform had processed $4.6bn in withdrawals and $1bn in
deposits, resulting in a net outflow of about $3.6bn – representing 2.1% of its
$171bn in total assets under management.
The numbers
were confirmed by the company in its latest proof of reserves snapshot. A full
report is expected on Monday.
Binance
said: “After an initial spike, withdrawal volumes have declined and are
stabilising as expected, while deposit volumes have remained substantial.”
The crypto
exchange told its customers that market conditions were stable and that its
team was “testing rigorously the remaining networks and assets”.
“We know how
important safe and reliable access to your funds is and will share details of
the next phase as soon as we can,” it said on X.
In the first
phase Binance restored withdrawals for 15 networks and assets, including
ethereum, USDT and USDC tokens on the ethereum blockchain, as well as some
others held on the BNB Smart Chain blockchain. Later on Sunday, dealing in the
Dogecoin and Avalanche currencies resumed on their own platforms.
The platform
said it had replenished 90% of the amount
stolen. The remaining 10% of tokens were less liquid, meaning they may take longer to buy, the company said in a post on X on Saturday.
Richard
Teng, Binance’s co-chief executive, said separately that the company was
“committed to covering the remaining 10%” and users would not bear the
financial impact of the hack.
On Saturday
the FBI confirmed earlier suspicions from private investigators and analysts
that a North Korea-affiliated group called TraderTraitor was behind the hack.
TraderTraitor
is believed to be part of the Lazarus Group, which gained notoriety in 2014
when it was accused of hacking
into Sony Pictures as revenge for The Interview, a film that mocked the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“The Federal
Bureau of Investigation is releasing information advising the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) was responsible for the theft of more
than $6bn in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, on or about
October 29,” the law enforcement agency said.
The FBI
added that it had observed “TraderTraitor actors” converting stolen assets into
ethereum, and expected those assets to be laundered further by converting them
using decentralised finance and instant swap services.
It said it
was urging private sector entities “to block transactions with or derived from
addresses TraderTraitor actors” were “using to launder these stolen assets”.
Teng said on
Friday that the breach was a “complex attack” involving a compromised laptop
and malicious software designed to delete evidence of its activity, making it harder
to trace and investigate.
Binance said
it had set aside about $6.34bn of company funds to cover the losses. “Our
commitment remains the same: Binance will fully cover the financial impact of
the funds stolen in this incident,” the company said.
The money
spent rebuying tokens came from using part of its $1bn secure asset fund for
users, a bitcoin reserve it holds to protect customers in the event of security
breaches, as well as some of its futures insurance fund and own
corporate treasury, Binance said on X.
The hack
came as many observers expressed worries that the ever-expanding capabilities
of artificial intelligence models could compromise cryptography and IT security
protocols.
Bitcoin
plunged nearly 5% after the news of the hack, while ethereum dropped nearly 6%
and BNB, native to Binance, tumbled nearly 10%.
The sheer
scale of the hack has put a spotlight
on the capacity of North Korea – which faces extensive international
sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes – to find illicit means to
capture revenue.
Introduction: Crypto 'scammers on overdrive' as Binance customers pull billions from accounts after $6.3bn hack
From 3h ago
Introduction:
Crypto 'scammers on overdrive' as Binance customers pull billions from accounts
after $6.3bn hack
Good
morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial
markets, and the world economy.
Crypto
scammers are now in “overdrive”, the founder of crypto exchange Binance has
warned, as customers pull billions in funds from the platform as it recovers
from a record hack.
The platform
was hit by a $6.3bn theft on Thursday, which has since been described as the
biggest heist in history. Experts identified North
Korea as the probable culprit.
Binance
initially froze withdrawals as it investigated the breach but on Sunday
announced it had begun
a phased reopening.
By Sunday
afternoon, the platform had processed $4.6bn in withdrawals and $1bn in
deposits, resulting in a net outflow of about $3.6bn – 2.1% of its $171bn in
total assets under management. (Those numbers were confirmed by the company in
its latest proof of reserves snapshot – a full report is expected today.)
Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the
platform and commonly known as CZ, has warned that scammers are now
targeting those that are trying to pull their money from the platform. He wrote
on X:
Scammers
on over drive now. Be careful.
His post was
in response to a post which
said:
Some of
you may have seen posts and screenshots circulating recently. Please be aware
that these screenshots are fake and the information in them is false. For
accurate and up-to-date information, always refer to our official channels and
announcements.
The hack has
spooked the market, with investors also pulling out funds from Bitcoin ETFs in
the US, according to Nick Forster, chief executive of Derive.xyz,
a crypto platform. He said:
US spot
Bitcoin ETFs recorded $643 million in net outflows on Friday, their first
trading session following the hack.
BlackRock’s IBIT saw $233.7 million in outflows, while Fidelity’s
FBTC lost $201 million, ARKB $129.5 million, GBTC $53.3 million and BITB $25.7
million. No fund recorded net inflows.
….We’re seeing a similar shift in options trading on Derive.xyz. In the first
12 hours following the hack, put options accounted for 68% of Bitcoin options
premiums traded, compared with 43% in the preceding five days.
Trading activity also remained elevated, with approximately $55 million in
daily Bitcoin options volume since the hack, compared with $34 million the day
prior.
Traders have been moving quickly to protect themselves against further losses,
with downside protection taking a much larger share of options activity.
He added
that the odds of Bitcoin hitting the $100,000 level by the end of the year were
now just 3.5%.
Last
Wednesday, Derive options were pricing a 6% probability of Bitcoin exceeding
$100K by Christmas. That has now fallen to just 3.5%, or roughly a one-in-30
chance.
…Before
the hack, our options market was pricing a 75% probability of Bitcoin finishing
above $80,000 at Friday’s expiry. Instead, Bitcoin settled at $77,786.
Binance
co-founder: 'Our top priority is to ensure the environment is secure'
Yi He,
co-founder of Binance, has said that its top priority is to “ensure the
environment is secure, after which users can withdraw their funds and Binance
can resume operations.”
She rejected
comparisons with collapsed rival FTX, writing on X:
Every
action has a motive. Look at some fraudulent exchanges that absconded, P2P
platforms, and commercial banks: their ledgers are opaque; once the website is
shut down, they simply abscond with the funds, the company is liquidated or
goes bankrupt, and all they need to do is give you an arbitrary excuse. As for
how much money was actually in the account and where it went, there is no way
to know.
These
kinds of closures happen without any warning—they just disappear. There is no
real operation, no one comes out to explain what happened, and it is even less
possible for withdrawals to be opened.
Scammers
target Binance customers with fake compensation claims
Scammers
appear to be targeting people affected by the Binance hack by offering them
fake compensation rewards.
There are
screenshots circulating online that promise $150 in free compensation for
withdrawal suspensions. Binance has confirmed that it is false
information and the screenshots are digitally altered.
It comes
after a warning from Binance founder CZ that scammers are in “overdrive”
following the $6.3bn hack last week.
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