Binance estimates $6.3 billion affected in security incident

Binance said Friday, Oct. 30, that a security incident had affected about $6.3 billion in assets and pledged to cover losses as it investigates how unauthorized withdrawals were made. The exchange said deposits are operating normally, but withdrawals remain paused during security work.

• Estimated total impact: about $6.3 billion.
• Assets frozen on-chain: about $3 billion.
• Expected withdrawal resumption: within 48 hours, according to Binance.

In its official update, Binance said its initial investigation points to a possible entry through a DevOps engineer’s compromised laptop. The company said it found no evidence that wallet private keys had leaked.

How does Binance think the attacker got in?

Binance said the compromised laptop may have let an attacker reach a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions. A service container is a software environment used to run an application or service.

The exchange has not published a full account of the attack path. It said the incident involved multiple factors and promised a detailed report after tracing the activity and verifying the facts. The early findings describe a possible route in, not a completed forensic conclusion.

The Associated Press reported Binance’s initial estimate and investigation on Thursday, Oct. 29. At that point, the company said it was reviewing reports of a potential security issue and had not explicitly confirmed that funds were stolen.

What does the $6.3 billion estimate cover?

Binance calls the figure the incident’s “estimated total impact.” The company has not released a full breakdown in its update, so the estimate should not be read as a confirmed final tally of unrecoverable losses.

Binance said about $3 billion had been frozen on-chain, meaning blockchain partners blocked assets from moving at the affected addresses. It said that total may rise as tracing continues. The exchange also said it would cover all losses with money from its Secure Asset Fund for Users, or SAFU, and company resources.

Binance has said user funds are safe. The promise to cover losses and the freeze figure are company statements; the exchange said its investigation is still under way and that more technical detail will follow after remediation.

When can customers withdraw again?

Binance said deposits remain unaffected and continue as normal, while withdrawals are still paused as it upgrades the withdrawal service and related addresses. The company expects withdrawals to resume within 48 hours, but did not give a precise restart time.

The pause gives Binance time to complete security checks and work with law enforcement, asset issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and other industry partners to trace and freeze more funds. For customers, the immediate change is limited to withdrawals: Binance says deposits are available, but access to withdrawals depends on the service revamp being completed.

Sources and documents

• official update — binance.com
• reported Binance’s initial estimate and investigation — apnews.com