Binance customers withdrew $3.6bn (£2.7bn) in assets from the cryptocurrency exchange as it reopened on Sunday, following what is believed to be the largest hack in history. The firm had suspended all transactions after the incident, which impacted $6.3bn worth of digital assets.
Major organisations, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), have accused North Korea of being responsible for the cyber-attack. The FBI published a list of cryptocurrency wallet addresses linked to the group, known as TraderTraitor or the Lazarus Group, and urged industry partners to block related transactions.
Binance stated it has covered approximately 95% of the stolen assets, with the remaining amount potentially taking longer to source. The company has repeatedly committed to covering all losses linked to the attack, using funds from its corporate treasury, futures insurance, and emergency reserve funds.
Withdrawals of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have resumed, with more services expected to follow in phases after security checks are completed. Binance reported net withdrawals of approximately $3.64bn between 06:00 and 15:30 GMT on November 1, noting an initial spike in withdrawals that later stabilised.
Funds linked to the hack are reportedly still being laundered, with attackers layering them across many thousands of addresses and deposits, according to Alec Zebrick of Chainalysis. Early checks by Binance suggest the incident may have originated from a compromised engineer's laptop.