Binance announced early Sunday it would resume withdrawals in phases after North Korean hackers, a group called TraderTraitor according to the FBI, breached the exchange and stole assets worth $6.3 billion. According to TechCrunch, Binance says it has already covered 95% of the stolen assets and is covering the entire cost rather than passing losses to users.
Binance froze all deposits and withdrawals after the breach, triggering alarm among its global user base. The company is now rolling out access in stages, with some assets moving normally while others like Bitcoin remain partially suspended. According to TechCrunch, between 6am and 3:30pm UTC on Sunday alone, Binance processed $4.6 billion in withdrawals and $1.0 billion in deposits, a net outflow of $3.6 billion, or 2.1% of total assets under management.
The breach exposes a difficult truth about crypto exchanges, regardless of size or funding. Binance has long marketed itself as the safest major platform in the industry. A $6.3 billion theft is a serious credibility blow. Even if users face no direct losses, they have lost confidence in the exchange's security posture.
Binance said it is "still working" to recover the "remaining affected assets, which are less liquid in the market." Some stolen crypto cannot be easily resold, which means Binance's recovery timeline could extend for months or longer. North Korea taking responsibility as the culprit does not address how hackers penetrated one of the world's most valuable crypto platforms in the first place.
Binance said it will publish a full incident report when its investigation concludes. The tech sector and millions of users with funds on the platform will be monitoring developments closely.
