Binance resumes withdrawals following $6.3 billion breach

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has begun allowing withdrawals in a phased process following a $6.3 billion theft from its wallets. The company had previously suspended all deposits and withdrawals after the hackers targeted Binance accounts. Binance now claims to have covered 95% of the stolen assets, and it is actively seeking to acquire the remaining affected assets, though these are considered less liquid and require more time to source.

Binance emphasized that it will absorb the financial impact of the stolen funds and will not pass the losses onto its users. The decision to freeze withdrawals was not made lightly, as the company acknowledged the importance of reliable access to withdrawals for its users. However, it deemed this a necessary precaution during its efforts to contain the incident, assess its impact, restore affected services, and complete security checks.

As of Sunday morning, Binance's network status page showed a mix of normal, partially suspended, and fully suspended statuses for various assets. For instance, Bitcoin withdrawals and deposits are partially suspended, while Ethereum deposits are normal, and withdrawals are partially suspended. Users should anticipate temporary delays or extended processing times due to increased traffic.

Binance stated that resuming withdrawals represents a significant milestone, but their work continues. They are committed to strengthening their safeguards, completing the recovery process, and providing regular updates on their progress. The company also intends to publish a comprehensive incident report once their investigation is concluded. Binance had previously implicated North Korea hackers in the breach, with the FBI later confirming that a North Korean group called TraderTraitor was responsible for the attack.