Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has begun restoring customer withdrawals in phases, just days after suffering the biggest crypto heist on record.
The exchange said it had covered approximately 95 percent of the roughly $6.3 billion stolen from its hot wallets and pledged that users would not bear any financial losses.
Announcing the recovery of users’ funds, Binance wrote,
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“Our last update explained that Binance had set aside more than $6.34B in company funds to cover hacked losses, and we had already covered approximately 80% of the impacted amount of the hacked loss at that time.
“That covered amount is now up to 90%. All BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD, and ZEC are fully backed 100%. We will continue to buy the remaining relevant token assets through market and OTC channels until the covered amount reaches 100% for all tokens. Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users.”
The company added that it will continue to demonstrate this commitment through measurable progress, transparent reporting, and concrete actions. The next milestone is resuming withdrawal services for users.
Recall that hackers drained assets across multiple blockchains from Binance’s internet-connected hot wallets.
Bitcoin withdrawals reopened first, followed by Ether, BNB, and major stablecoins including USDT and USDC on networks such as Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain.
The initial phase covered assets on about 15 networks, prioritized according to recent user demand, with further routes expected to open only after additional security and stability checks.
Binance has set aside more than $6.34 billion of its own resources, drawing from its Secure Asset Fund for Users, futures insurance fund, and corporate treasury, to repurchase replacement tokens.
SAFU is an emergency reserve fund established by Binance in July 2018 to protect user assets in extreme cases, such as security breaches or platform-level incidents. Binance allocated a percentage of trading fees to grow the fund to a substantial level over time.
Will Binance replenish the SAFU fund?
Binance is committing to replenishing the SAFU to return the fund size to approximately US$1 billion. The exchange according to a post, is replenishing SAFU to ensure it remains fully resourced and ready to protect users, consistent with its purpose as an emergency user-protection reserve.
The hack on the crypto exchange, ranks among the largest cryptocurrency thefts on record. It underscores ongoing risks associated with hot wallet management even at major centralized exchanges, while also highlighting the role of insurance-style reserves such as SAFU in protecting users.
Major holdings including bitcoin, ether, USDT, BNB, Solana, USDC, XRP and others are now fully backed, according to the exchange. The remaining roughly 5 percent involves less liquid tokens that the company continues to source through markets and over-the-counter deals.
Industry partners have also frozen about $3 billion of the stolen assets. The FBI has attributed the theft to TraderTraitor, a North Korea-linked hacking group previously associated with other major crypto thefts.
Binance has stressed that deposits remained available throughout the incident and that it is absorbing the full financial impact while conducting a broader security review of its systems. Users may encounter temporary delays due to high volume as the phased restoration continues.
The rapid replenishment of reserves and controlled return of withdrawal services mark a significant step in the exchange’s recovery from what industry observers describe as the largest cryptocurrency theft to date.
Outlook
Binance’s ability to commit billions of dollars towards replacing stolen assets could become an important demonstration of financial resilience in the cryptocurrency industry.
However, restoring customer balances and withdrawal services represents only one part of the exchange’s recovery. Rebuilding user confidence will depend on whether Binance can demonstrate that its security infrastructure has been strengthened sufficiently to prevent similar incidents.