$2 billion leaves Binance hours after withdrawals reopen

About $2 billion in Bitcoin, Ether and stablecoins left Binance in roughly the first three hours after the exchange reopened withdrawals on Sunday, November 1. The transfers were flagged by blockchain tracker Whale Alert and reported by BeInCrypto via Yahoo Finance. It is not yet clear how much of the money was customers leaving the platform and how much was the exchange moving its own funds. Binance has rebuilt its withdrawal system after a record $6.3 billion hack and now sends every payout from newly generated wallets.finance.yahoo.com

Where the money went

Whale Alert posts showed four large transfers from Binance to "unknown" wallets. They covered 10,000 BTC worth about $779 million, nearly $1 billion in Tether, $200 million in USD Coin and 30,000 ETH worth about $68 million, according to the BeInCrypto report. Binance has not matched each transfer to its new addresses. Co-founder Yi He, replying to a user on X, said most of the recent large transfers came from Binance cold wallets and went to the exchange's new hot wallets. That suggests much of the flow was internal reshuffling rather than customers exiting.panewslab.com+1

Earlier on Sunday, Binance said it had added newly generated wallet addresses to its proof-of-reserves list and that all withdrawals would now be processed from them. Crypto Briefing reported that a full zk-SNARKs proof, which would let users check that their own balances are included, is expected by November 3.cryptobriefing.com+1

A phased restart

Binance resumed Bitcoin withdrawals shortly after 0600 GMT and said it had covered 95% of the stolen tokens, Reuters reported. The money came from its Secure Asset Fund for Users, part of its futures insurance fund and its corporate treasury. Phase one covers 15 networks, including Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Solana and Tron, and the exchange said it chose them based on the past week's user demand. By Sunday afternoon in Asia, withdrawals were open on nine networks. Yi He said other wallets are still undergoing "repeated security audits and perimeter checks." No date has been set for the second phase.reuters.com+3

Aftermath of the hack

Binance halted withdrawals after an attack disclosed on Thursday, October 29. A preliminary review found that it may have started with a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, and about $3 billion was frozen on-chain. The FBI has blamed North Korea for the theft, the largest crypto heist on record.binance.com+1

Some traders expected a "Sunday pump" once withdrawals reopened, but Bitcoin rose only modestly. It stayed below the level it lost on the day of the hack, according to BeInCrypto. Bloomberg reported that the industry is still waiting for answers about the breach and about what Binance will do to strengthen its defenses.bloomberg.com+1