Binance to restart withdrawals Sunday after $6.3B hack

After hackers stole about $6.3 billion from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, its competitors spent Friday, October 30, tightening their own security. Several industry executives also called for a shared system to flag thefts as they happen. Coinbase ↘ 10.62% said it had adjusted the systems it uses to store cryptocurrency keys offline "solely out of an abundance of caution." Kraken said it was watching industry incidents for lessons it could apply to its own defenses, Reuters reported.live.euronext.com

The theft is believed to be the largest crypto heist on record. It came as President Donald Trump's regulators push to bring digital assets deeper into the financial system, which raises the stakes for an industry with a long history of big hacks.live.euronext.com

Rivals tighten defenses

"Full-time teams at Kraken look for potential vulnerabilities every day," a Kraken spokesperson said. "For crypto to reach its full potential, the security situation must be addressed immediately," said Chris Perkins, head of crypto at Franklin Templeton ↘ 2.16%. OKX CEO Star Xu wrote on X that the industry needs "a real-time alert system" so firms can share information the moment a hack happens, coordinate a quick response and temporarily freeze funds suspected of being stolen.live.euronext.com

Stablecoin issuers have already frozen some of the money. Tether froze nearly $1.57 billion linked to Binance, and Circle ↘ 9.31% froze $800 million. Bitcoin ↗ 0.28% and ether Ethereum ↗ 0.54% cannot be frozen, because no single entity controls them. Binance says about $3 billion of the affected assets is now frozen.afp.com+1

How the attack unfolded

Most of the money left Binance in about 20 minutes late on Thursday, October 29. US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis said the attack resembled earlier thefts blamed on North Korea. North Korea routinely denies involvement in such hacks. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said the "complex attack" may have started with a software engineer's compromised laptop. The company later found additional breaches, and software built to erase traces of the attack slowed the investigation.live.euronext.com

Binance has paused withdrawals and says it will cover all losses with its emergency fund for users and other company money. It also said it found no evidence that any wallet private keys were leaked. In an update posted early Saturday, Asia time, Binance said it plans to restart withdrawals in phases, starting around Sunday, November 1. It also plans to publish a proof-of-reserves report, showing it holds enough assets to cover customer balances, by Monday.forbes.com+1

Markets shaken

The hack hit crypto stocks hard on Friday. Coinbase, Strategy ↘ 1.09% and Robinhood ↘ 7.21% all fell sharply, and bitcoin and ether also dropped, according to The New York Times ↗ 1.08%.nytimes.com

Some industry figures were calm about the wider fallout. "Our expectation is the industry writ large will actually not suffer material losses," said Josh Riezman, chief legal and strategy officer at the crypto firm GSR. Others were more wary. "I wouldn't confuse financial strength with operational security," said Ryan Kirkley, CEO of Global Settlement Network.live.euronext.com+1