Investors pull $1B from Binance after record hack

North Korean hackers took more Bitcoin ↗ 1.27% from Binance than Tesla ↘ 0.52% holds on its balance sheet. Meanwhile, Binance's Philippine partner, BlockShoals Technologies, is checking whether the record breach affects its planned entry into a regulatory sandbox. According to Chosun Ilbo, which cited CoinDesk and Cointelegraph, the attackers stole 18,270 Bitcoin on Oct. 29, worth about $1.43 billion. Tesla held 11,509 Bitcoin at the end of September, so the stolen amount is roughly 59% larger.chosun.com

The Bitcoin is only part of the losses. Total losses across Bitcoin, Ethereum ↗ 2.34% and stablecoins came to about $6.3 billion, which the Associated Press called the biggest crypto heist in history.apnews.com

Philippine partner weighs impact

BlockShoals has been approved for the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission's Strategic Sandbox. The program is meant to let Filipino users access Binance products in a controlled setting. On Saturday, the company said it "is assessing whether the incident has any implications for its sandbox project and will coordinate with the SEC," BusinessWorld reported. The first phase of the sandbox involves a 90-day systems integration period before users can sign up. BlockShoals told the public to rely on Binance's official channels and to "remain vigilant against fraudulent communications or offers to recover funds."bworldonline.com

FBI names TraderTraitor

On Saturday, Oct. 31, the FBI said North Korea "was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion USD in virtual assets" from Binance "on or about October 29, 2026," DW reported. The bureau named the state-backed unit TraderTraitor, which the BBC said is also known as the Lazarus Group. The FBI said the hackers were mainly converting stolen assets into Ethereum and that it expects more laundering. Blockchain analytics firm BitQuery found the attackers held 525,201 Ethereum by Oct. 31, according to Chosun Ilbo.amp.dw.com+2

Binance said its hot wallets were compromised at about 20:05 UTC on Oct. 29. Co-CEO Richard Teng said the hackers got around normal approval controls to move funds out of an internet-connected wallet. Investigators traced the breach back to a compromised engineer's laptop.securitytoday.com+2

Reimbursement and withdrawals

Binance says about $3 billion of the stolen assets have been frozen or recovered. However, TRM Labs says roughly $2.4 billion in Bitcoin and ether is now "beyond any issuer's reach". The exchange has used its Secure Asset Fund for Users, its futures insurance fund and its own corporate treasury to buy back tokens, and says it has replaced 90% of what was taken. "Our users will not bear the financial impact of this incident," Teng said.yahoo.com+2

On Sunday, Binance began reopening withdrawals in phases. Investors pulled more than $1 billion from the exchange after it reopened, The Telegraph reported via Yahoo.ca.finance.yahoo.com+1