Binance reopens withdrawals after $6.3bn security breach

Binance began restoring crypto withdrawals in phases on Sunday, November 1, after attackers stole about $6.3 billion from its wallets, and the exchange said it had replaced about 95% of the affected assets. The company said it would cover the loss, and its [recovery update](https://www.binance.com/en-PH/support/announcement/detail/73911fb819b240f88b88256bdd318eda) set out which services would reopen first.

• Binance dates the wallet breach to October 29 at about 20:05 UTC.
• The exchange says the stolen assets were worth about $6.3 billion.
• It reported that about 95% of the affected amount had been replaced.
• TechCrunch reported $3.6 billion in net withdrawals during the first withdrawal period.

What did Binance reopen first?

The first phase covered withdrawals across major networks including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Tron, Solana and XRP, along with several other networks and tokens. Binance said it would restore each asset and network pair as it passed security and readiness checks, with more to follow.

Services were not all back to normal at once. Binance warned users to expect delays from high traffic, and said they should check the withdrawal page or network status page to confirm whether a particular route was available.

TechCrunch reported that Binance began allowing withdrawals on Sunday and that service status varied by network. At the time of its report, Bitcoin withdrawals and deposits were listed as partially suspended, while Ethereum deposits were normal and withdrawals were partially suspended.

What happened in the breach?

Binance said its hot wallets were compromised on October 29, leading to unauthorized withdrawals. Hot wallets are online wallets used to move crypto quickly; Binance has not yet published a full account of how attackers got access or which safeguards failed.

In its October 30 update, the company said it had contained affected infrastructure, revoked authorizations and added security controls. It also said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked, while its investigation continued.

Binance initially suspended withdrawals as a precaution while it assessed the breach and checked affected systems. The exchange said deposits remained open and other unaffected services continued to operate. The company has not said that trading across the platform was halted.

Who will bear the stolen funds?

Binance says it will cover the financial impact through its Secure Asset Fund for Users and company funds. The fund is a reserve Binance says it keeps to protect users. Its November 1 update said the exchange had covered about 95% of the affected amount, with the remaining 5% made up of less liquid tokens that take longer to source.

Earlier, Binance reported that about $3 billion of affected assets had been frozen on-chain with help from law enforcement, blockchain firms, issuers and other industry partners. Frozen assets are not the same as recovered funds: Binance has not said that all of them have been returned.

Withdrawals resumed after several days of suspension, but the phased rollout left access dependent on the network and asset. TechCrunch reported that Binance processed $4.6 billion in withdrawals and $1 billion in deposits between 06:00 and 15:30 UTC on Sunday, a net outflow of $3.6 billion. The company said it would publish a fuller incident report after its investigation is complete.