Binance sets aside $6.34bn to cover hack losses, says $3bn already frozen
- Binance says it has reserved over $6.34 billion of its own funds to cover losses from a major security breach.
- The exchange says about $3 billion in affected assets has been frozen with help from industry partners.
- Withdrawals remain suspended, though Binance had earlier said it hoped to restore them within 48 hours.
Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, says it has set aside more than $6.34 billion of company money to cover user losses from a major security breach, and that it has started recovering affected assets.
The company announced the reserve in an update on its official X account on Friday. It said $5 billion of that amount is already held in the exact tokens affected by the breach, while the rest is being bought through the open market and over-the-counter (OTC) channels.
Binance said finishing those purchases could take time because some of the affected tokens trade thinly, and OTC deals take time to settle.
What happened and what it means for users
In an earlier disclosure, Binance put the estimated losses from the incident at about $6.3 billion. Its first investigation suggested the breach may have started from a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer, which the company said may have let an attacker reach a service container and push through unauthorised withdrawal transactions.
Binance said it found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked, and that deposits were not affected. Withdrawals were suspended while its security team carried out an overhaul.
The exchange had earlier said it expected to restore withdrawals within 48 hours, but its latest statement gave no specific time.
Separately, Binance said about $3 billion in affected assets has been frozen with the help of industry partners. It said that money is not part of the $6.34 billion reserve and is still being recovered and verified, working with law enforcement agencies, token issuers and blockchain intelligence firms.
Binance said it will use company resources to cover any confirmed shortfall, and that customer holdings will in the end be checked publicly through its Proof of Reserves system, which lets users compare the exchange's holdings with its reported liabilities. It had earlier pledged to cover losses through its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and corporate funds.
For Nigerian crypto traders, the key question is access to their money. Anyone with funds on Binance cannot withdraw for now, though the company insists customer funds are safe and that losses will be covered from its own pocket rather than users' balances.
Binance said it will publish a full report on the root cause of the breach once its investigation is complete, and promised further verified updates as recovery continues.
