Binance Fully Covers $6.34B Hack Losses Using Company Funds

Two weeks after the biggest crypto theft ever recorded, Binance stated on Thursday that it has fully covered the $6.34 billion hack from Oct. 29 using company money. Withdrawals are still being gradually restored.

In a statement released Thursday, the exchange announced it "has completed coverage of assets impacted in the security incident" and released a fresh proof-of-reserves snapshot. The same message was also posted on X.

The precise language is significant. Coverage indicates Binance has replaced the impacted tokens from its own balance sheet, not that the stolen coins have been recovered from the hackers. The exchange said it allocated over $6.34 billion in corporate funds and purchased the affected tokens through market and over-the-counter channels. It drew on a partial use of its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), a part of its futures insurance fund above the level needed under its risk-management framework, and its corporate treasury.

Binance has also promised to refill SAFU to roughly $1 billion after that partial withdrawal, a measure it said would keep the fund fully supplied as an emergency reserve for user protection.

A very small number of tokens that the exchange no longer lists were also hit. Binance said those holdings will be dealt with according to its delisting procedure and that users holding them will be compensated.

A broader proof-of-reserves snapshot, though no independent verification yet

Binance conducted a new proof-of-reserves snapshot at 00:00 UTC on Nov. 12, or 7 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, covering 198 tokens. That is a large increase from the 10 tokens included in the Oct. 31 snapshot released in the days after the breach. The latest figures are now available on the exchange's proof-of-reserves website.

The snapshot, according to Binance, "provides an updated view of assets that are fully accounted for." Users cannot yet confirm that claim on their own. The exchange said the complete zero-knowledge proof will take around 40 to 50 hours to generate due to the computational demands. After that, users holding the affected tokens "will be able to independently verify that their assets are backed at a minimum of 1:1."

Until the proof is ready, the 1:1 backing is a statement from Binance, not something customers can verify independently.

Withdrawals are still being restored in stages

Thursday's announcement does not bring the platform back all at once. Binance said it continues to restore withdrawals in phases and will provide additional details once they are confirmed. The exchange first resumed withdrawals on Nov. 1, starting with bitcoin and then expanding to other networks, and has maintained the phased restart schedule since then.

The announcement also does not specify how much of the stolen assets have been recovered, and it does not identify an attacker. Covering customer balances leaves that recovery question unresolved. The theft, which Binance first described in a Nov. 3 incident report, started with a fake job interview and a poisoned developer tool and drained hot wallets on Oct. 29, remaining the largest crypto hack on record.

The exchange had already committed over $6.34 billion to cover customer losses in the hours after the breach, reported coverage of 90% and then 95% as it reopened withdrawals, and later said it had restored 98% of affected tokens, with the rest in less liquid assets that took longer to buy. Thursday's statement is the first time Binance has said that process is finished.

Binance also said security remains a priority and that infrastructure work is still ongoing. For customers, the immediate tests are simpler: whether the zero-knowledge proof, expected in about two days, supports the new snapshot, and how quickly the remaining withdrawal queues resume.