Binance began restoring withdrawals in phases on Sunday, just days after hackers stole $6.3 billion from the platform in a matter of minutes. The initial wave of restored withdrawals covered major crypto assets including bitcoin, ether, USDT, USDC, BNB, SOL, XRP, and several others. Company leadership stated that the losses are being covered directly with internal funds and the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU).
Data from DefiLlama indicated that more than $6 billion in tokens left Binance-linked wallets once withdrawals went live again. This volume represented approximately 3.6% of the $171 billion in assets the exchange held prior to the attack. Even with these substantial outflows, tracking data showed roughly $129 billion remaining in Binance-associated wallets. Internal accounting from Binance reported $4.649 billion in withdrawals against $1.01 billion in deposits during the first nine-and-a-half hours, resulting in a net outflow of about $3.64 billion. Co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao noted on social media that the vast majority of net outflows occurred early on and that the vast majority of users chose to stay.
Blockchain analytics firms including Elliptic and Chainalysis tracked large portions of the stolen funds, tying the exploit to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group. Investigators detailed automated laundering patterns utilizing cross-chain protocols, bridges, and instant swappers to move millions of dollars across networks like Tron. Meanwhile, cross-chain platforms like THORChain faced renewed scrutiny from security researchers regarding the automated flow of funds linked to state-sponsored hacking groups.
Binance Users Pull Billions Following Major Crypto Exploit
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