Binance replenishes 90pc of assets stolen in security incident

BENGALURU: Crypto-currency exchange Binance said on Saturday it has been able to cover 90 percent of the amount stolen after a record USD 6.3 billion hack of its platform.

The outstanding 10 percent consists of tokens that are less liquid, which means they may take longer to source in the required amounts, it said in a statement.

The exchange said it has set aside around USD 6.34 billion of company funds internally to cover the losses.

Binance said the replenishment involved a partial deployment of its USD 1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), a bitcoin reserve it holds to protect customers in the event of security breaches.

The company’s co-CEO, Richard Teng, said on Friday that the breach was a “complex attack” involving a compromised laptop and malicious software designed to delete evidence of its activity, making it harder to trace and investigate.

Binance also said it had taken a new snapshot of assets held on its platform as of 0000 GMT on October 31, as part of its proof-of-reserves process.

Users holding the 10 listed tokens — BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD, and ZEC — would be able to verify that their assets were backed at a minimum 1:1 ratio once the full proof was available, it said.

The exchange said it remained on track to resume withdrawal services on Sunday, November 1, within its previously stated timeframe.