Binance Restarts Crypto Withdrawals After $6.3 Billion Theft

Binance began reopening withdrawals on Sunday, November 1, after suspending them following a cyberattack that stole about $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency. The exchange, the world’s largest by daily trading volume, said services would return in stages as it completed security checks across different assets and networks.

Withdrawals for a number of major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, were available by Sunday morning. Binance said it would restore more assets and networks as checks are completed, with the sequence partly guided by user demand. Some transactions may take longer because of high traffic, and the exchange’s status page showed that some services remained partially or fully suspended.

Binance said it had covered about 95% of the stolen assets and would bear the losses rather than pass them on to users. The remaining portion consists of tokens that are less liquid and take longer to obtain in the quantities needed. The company said it drew on its user protection reserve, corporate treasury and futures insurance fund to make up the deficit. By 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, it had recorded about $4.6 billion worth of customer withdrawals alongside $1 billion in deposits.

The FBI said North Korea-linked group TraderTraitor was responsible for the theft, which took place on or about October 29. The bureau said the group was converting stolen assets, mainly into Ethereum, and warned businesses to block transactions linked to addresses used in the laundering effort. Binance said it was working with law enforcement and industry partners and would publish a fuller incident report after its investigation is complete.