Binance says it covers 90% of assets lost in $6.3 billion hack

Binance says it has replenished 90% of the $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from its platform on Thursday and will cover the rest, as investigators continue to trace what appears to be the largest crypto theft on record.

“Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users,” the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange said in a statement Saturday. It said it had set aside more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the losses, drawing on various funds and its corporate treasury to replenish assets so far. The remaining 10% may take longer to source in the amounts required, the company said.

Binance said holdings of bitcoin, ethereum and Tether, along with seven other widely traded cryptocurrencies, were covered. Its next goal is to restore withdrawals for users. The company said it remained on track to reopen withdrawals Sunday, Nov. 1, and would provide another update when details were confirmed.

According to NPR, hackers began accessing accounts at 4:05 p.m. Eastern on Thursday and took just over $6.3 billion in digital assets in about 20 minutes. The precise route they used remains unclear. Binance initially said an engineer’s laptop appeared to have been compromised, allowing unauthorized withdrawals, but later reported finding “additional points of breach.”

Richard Teng, Binance’s co-chief executive, said more than one person carried out the attack and that the hackers used sophisticated methods to conceal their activity, including a “self-destruct mechanism.” The investigation is ongoing.

Binance said Friday that it had frozen around $3 billion in stolen assets while working with law enforcement, intelligence firms and partners. The U.S. Secret Service said it was “working around the clock” with private-sector partners to identify, freeze, trace and recover the funds.

Two major blockchain analytics firms have intelligence pointing to a North Korean state-backed group known as the Lazarus Group, or TraderTraitor, as the likely attacker, the BBC reported. The identification has not been confirmed. The FBI attributed last year’s $1.5 billion theft from the Bybit exchange — previously the largest such heist — to North Korea. North Korea has denied involvement in these attacks.

Ari Redbord, global head of policy at crypto research firm TRM Labs, which has helped Binance trace and recover stolen funds, called the theft “bank robbery in the age of technology.” Researchers told NPR it was too early to determine whether Binance’s security systems had major flaws.

The attack has also renewed questions about the risks of keeping assets on crypto exchanges. Unlike a stock exchange, a crypto exchange can hold customers’ assets as well as facilitate trades. Amanda Fischer of the financial consumer advocacy group Better Markets told NPR that crypto platforms face a weaker regulatory framework than brokers in U.S. stock markets. Binance has pledged to make customers whole, but NPR reported that current regulations do not necessarily require it to do so.