Binance replenishes 90% of stolen crypto, says it will absorb financial losses
Binance has replenished 90 per cent of the cryptocurrency assets stolen in a massive security breach, with the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange saying that it will absorb the financial impact of the theft rather than pass the losses on to customers.The exchange has also confirmed that 10 major cryptocurrencies are now fully backed and said it remains on track to resume withdrawals on Sunday, November 1.According to Reuters, Binance said on Saturday that the replenishment includes funds from its corporate treasury and a portion of its futures insurance fund.
The exchange is also preparing to partially deploy its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) over the next 24 hours as it continues efforts to replace the remaining affected assets.The exchange said it is purchasing the outstanding stolen assets through cryptocurrency market transactions and over-the-counter (OTC) channels.Binance reiterated that customers would not bear the financial consequences of the security breach, stating that the company would absorb the losses itself."Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users," the exchange said.Binance said its holdings of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), BNB, Solana (SOL), USD Coin (USDC), XRP, USD1, Ripple USD (RLUSD) and Zcash (ZEC) are now fully backed at 100 per cent.The announcement is significant as the exchange seeks to assure customers that their cryptocurrency balances remain supported by sufficient assets despite the theft.Binance also announced that it had taken a fresh Proof of Reserves (PoR) snapshot at 00:00 UTC on October 31.
The mechanism allows users to assess whether the exchange holds sufficient cryptocurrency reserves to cover customer balances.The latest announcement comes after Binance suffered a massive security breach on October 29, in which hackers stole approximately $6.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency from the exchange in what analysts described as one of the largest financial thefts on record.Blockchain intelligence firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis linked the attack with high confidence to North Korean state-backed hackers, citing similarities with previous cryptocurrency thefts attributed to Pyongyang.
Binance has not independently confirmed the identity of those responsible.Binance's latest announcement marks a significant step in its efforts to restore customer confidence, with the resumption of withdrawals on Sunday emerging as the next major test for the exchange.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
