Binance said on Thursday, Nov. 13, that it had finished replacing customer assets affected by the $6.34 billion Oct. 29 theft. The attackers drained wallets Binance kept online to process transactions. Binance used more than $6.34 billion in company funds to buy replacement assets for affected customers. Binance restored customer balances through those purchases; the purchases did not recover the stolen coins.
In its announcement, Binance said it bought replacement tokens on public markets and through private trades between counterparties. It identified three company resources that funded the purchases:
- SAFU: Binance drew part of the money from its emergency fund for users.
- Futures insurance fund: Binance used money above the minimum required by its risk rules.
- Corporate treasury: Binance paid for some of the replacement tokens with its own treasury funds.
Binance said it would restore SAFU to about $1 billion after the draw. For affected holdings in a small number of tokens it no longer lists, Binance said it would cover customers through its process for removing tokens from trading. Binance did not say how much of the stolen crypto it has recovered.
Binance took a new snapshot of customer assets at 00:00 UTC on Nov. 12 and posted figures for 198 tokens on its proof-of-reserves page. Its Oct. 31 snapshot covered 10 tokens. Customers could see figures for a broader range of assets Binance says it holds, but Binance was still generating the proof they needed to check their own balances independently. Binance estimated that the computing work would take about 40 to 50 hours.
Customers also had to wait for access to some replacement assets. Binance began reopening withdrawals with bitcoin on Nov. 1 and has since expanded access to other networks in phases. It said it would continue reopening withdrawals in phases while it completed work on its infrastructure.
