Binance reopens withdrawals and $3.64 billion flows out
JOHANNESBURG — Binance customers withdrew $4.65 billion in the first nine and a half hours after the cryptocurrency exchange began restoring withdrawals on 1 November following a $6.3 billion theft. Customers also deposited $1.01 billion over the same period, leaving a net outflow of $3.64 billion, according to figures published by Binance. The exchange said withdrawals surged at first and then slowed, even as access to many tokens remained restricted.
Access depends on the token and the network
Binance prioritised withdrawals according to which assets customers had most wanted to move in the week before the breach. Bitcoin and ether were among the first to return, but availability also depended on the network used to send them. A customer could therefore see withdrawals reopen for a token while the transfer route they normally used remained suspended. Deposits stayed open throughout.
The early figures capture only part of the customer response. During Sunday’s rollout, The Block found that Binance was still listing withdrawals as suspended for 531 of 552 coins. Another 14, including bitcoin and ether, had only partial service. That limits what can be inferred from the subsequent slowdown in withdrawals about customers’ willingness to leave money on the exchange.
How Binance covered the stolen tokens
Binance said it had covered about 95% of the stolen assets by the time it announced the reopening. That figure includes replacement tokens bought with money from its customer protection fund, its futures insurance fund and its corporate treasury. The exchange said the remaining tokens were harder to buy in the quantities required and that it would absorb the financial loss. Separately, the FBI attributed the theft to TraderTraitor, a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group.
Writing before withdrawals resumed, Opinion columnist Lionel Laurent questioned the reassurance investors were taking from a relatively muted market reaction. Bitcoin had fallen about 2% when he wrote on 30 October. For customers holding assets on Binance, the more immediate measure of recovery is whether they can transfer the token they own over the network they need. Binance says it will reopen each route as it completes its security checks.
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