Binance Restarts Phased Withdrawals After Massive $6.3 Billion Crypto Hack

Cryptocurrency platform Binance initiated a gradual restoration of withdrawal services early Sunday morning following a massive security breach that resulted in the theft of $6.3 billion in digital assets from its wallets. The platform had previously halted all inflows and outflows immediately after the cyberattack occurred.

In an update released on Sunday, company representatives stated that 95 percent of the looted funds have already been recovered. Binance noted that efforts are ongoing to acquire the remaining missing assets, explaining that these particular holdings are less liquid and require more time to source in the necessary quantities. Reaffirming its earlier stance, the firm stressed that it will absorb the entire financial burden of the breach rather than shifting any of those losses onto its customer base.

The platform defended its earlier decision to freeze withdrawals, calling it a vital safety measure that allowed its technical staff to contain the damage, evaluate the breach’s scope, bring compromised services back online, and finish thorough security audits.

Withdrawal capabilities are being brought back in stages, determined by the specific asset and network. By Sunday morning, the status dashboard displayed a combination of fully operational, partially halted, and completely suspended operations. For instance, Bitcoin transactions remained partially limited, whereas Ethereum deposits functioned normally while its withdrawals faced partial restrictions. Furthermore, management warned customers that high traffic levels might cause temporary processing delays.

Although restarting withdrawals represents a significant achievement, Binance emphasized that recovery efforts are ongoing. The exchange pledged to enhance its security protocols, finish the asset recovery process, and release a comprehensive post-incident report once its internal investigation concludes.

Prior to this update, Binance pointed to hackers from North Korea as the culprits behind the cyberattack. On Saturday, the FBI corroborated this assessment, identifying a North Korean hacking collective named TraderTraitor as the perpetrator and noting that the stolen cryptocurrency was primarily being converted into Ethereum as part of an expected money laundering scheme.

Sources: TechCrunch

Aggregated summary. Original: TechCrunch