Binance Resumes Withdrawals After $6.3B Hack (Pays It Back Itself)

Three days ago, hackers walked out of Binance with $6.3 billion. Today, Binance opened its doors again. And it says it's paying for the damage out of its own pocket.

Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, resumed withdrawals on Sunday, November 1, 2026, after the largest crypto theft on record. Bitcoin went first, then ether, BNB and some stablecoins. The first phase covers 15 coins, and the rest will come back in stages.

A quick reminder of how we got here. On October 29, attackers drained about $6.3 billion from Binance's hot wallets, and blockchain investigators say most of it left in around 20 minutes.

Twenty minutes. Most of us need longer than that to pick something to watch on a Friday night.

It reportedly started with one compromised engineer's laptop. On October 31, the FBI said a North Korean hacking group called TraderTraitor was behind it, and that the stolen coins were being swapped into ether.

So what about the 335 million people with a Binance account?

According to Binance, 95% of the hole is already filled, roughly $6 billion, with replacement coins bought using company money. The cash came from its emergency fund for users, called SAFU, part of its futures insurance fund and its own treasury. The company's promise is that customers won't eat any of this loss.

Honestly, that part impressed me. Most of us have a friend who still owes us $20 from a dinner three years ago. Binance lost billions and paid back 95% in three days.

But careful: covering a loss isn't the same as getting the money back. The hackers still hold the coins, and only about $3 billion has been frozen by industry partners. The last 5% is in less popular tokens that are harder to buy in bulk. Some networks are still partly suspended, and Binance warns withdrawals may be slow while everyone rushes for the exit at once. You can see which coins work right now on its network status page.

The next test is an updated proof of reserves, which Binance reportedly plans to publish on Monday, November 2. That's the report meant to show every customer balance is backed one to one.

When a company can lose $6 billion on a Thursday and cover it by Sunday, the scary part isn't the hack. It's how much money was sitting in that wallet.

Photo: Binance