Binance to resume withdrawals after recovering bulk of US$6 billion in stolen funds
The FBI on Saturday said the North Korean state-sponsored unit known as TraderTraitor was responsible for the attack.
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Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, said it would resume withdrawals in phases after covering 95 per cent of the US$6.3 billion in tokens stolen from its platform in the world's largest digital heist, which the FBI has tied to North Korea.
Binance said phase one would start between 0600 and 0900 GMT (2pm and 5pm, Singapore time) on Sunday (Nov 1) and include bitcoin, ether, BNB, Solana, XRP, dogecoin and other tokens.
The remaining 5 per cent of stolen tokens consists of assets that are less liquid and may take longer to source in the required amounts, Binance posted on X late on Saturday.
The FBI said on Saturday the North Korean state-sponsored unit known as TraderTraitor was responsible for the attack.
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Pyongyang has for years denied using state-linked cyber units for espionage, financial theft and revenue. Its mission in Geneva and embassy in China did not respond to requests for comment.
Members of the unit were observed by law enforcement converting stolen assets into the cryptocurrency ethereum, the FBI said in a statement, adding that it expects "further laundering" of the assets through the use of related technology.
Binance has repeatedly said it would bear the financial impact of the funds stolen in the hack.
The money spent re-buying tokens came from using part of its US$1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), a bitcoin reserve it holds to protect customers in the event of security breaches, as well as some of its Futures Insurance Fund, and the company's own corporate treasury, it said on X.
Co-CEO Yi He said on Saturday that 50 per cent of its SAFU funds would be used, while the company said it was committing to replenishing the fund to return it to about US$1 billion.
Crypto prices fell on Friday, while Binance — the world's biggest crypto exchange — sought to reassure customers that their funds were safe.
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.
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