Crypto firm Binance covers 90% of losses after $6.3bn hack

31 October 2026, 16: 32 GMT. Updated 12 minutes ago.

Key points

• Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, notes it has covered 90% of the $6.3bn (£4.7bn) assets stolen in a hack on Thursday.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) remarked on Saturday that North Korea was responsible for the hack.
• Binance, founded in China in 2017, lets users purchase, sell and trade digital assets – it is estimated to have hundreds of millions of users worldwide.
• The US Secret Service remarked on Friday it is "working around the clock" with private sector partners "to identify, freeze, trace, and recover funds" stolen from Binance.
• The remaining 10% may take longer to source in the required amounts, the firm went on.

For context, the remaining 10% may take longer to source in the required amounts, the firm went on.

Binance has consistently pledged to cover 100% of the losses from what is suspected to be crypto's biggest hack on record and remarked it has set aside more than $6.34bn in business funds to do so.

"Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users, " the firm stated in an official note on Saturday.

In practice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) remarked on Saturday that North Korea was responsible for the hack.

Two analytics firms previously informed the BBC they had robust intelligence pointing to North Korean state-backed hacking unit the Lazarus Group, additionally known as TraderTraitor – which was specifically named by the FBI – as the probable culprits.

Binance remarked it had replenished the stolen assets using various funds and its own corporate treasury.

All holdings of the cryptocurrencies bitcoin, ethereum and Tether are covered, along with seven other widely-traded crypto assets, the firm stated. From Bitcoin to Binance: Crypto terms and what they mean.

Meanwhile, the firm stated its next goal is resuming withdrawal services for users, saying it remained on track to reopen withdrawals on Sunday 1 November and would provide a further update once details were confirmed.

Notably, the hack is believed to be the largest in history, eclipsing the record of a $1.5bn heist on the Bybit exchange in 2025 – for which the FBI additionally stated North Korea was responsible. North Korea has always denied involvement in these attacks.

Binance's initial investigation suggested an engineer's laptop was compromised. It allowed access to unauthorised withdrawals, but a afterwards update stated they had uncovered "additional points of breach".

Richard Teng, Binance's co-chief executive officer, remarked the hack was carried out by more than one person, and the hackers employed sophisticated methods to hide their tracks, such as a "self-destruct mechanism".

On Friday, the firm stated it had frozen around $3bn of stolen assets after working with law enforcement, intelligence firms and partners.

Meanwhile, the investigation is ongoing, it continued. The US Secret Service remarked on Friday it is "working around the clock" with private sector partners "to identify, freeze, trace, and recover funds" stolen from Binance.

Crypto is a digital asset. It doesn't exist physically and is instead accessed via digital wallets or computers.

Taken together, the developments around crypto firm Binance covers 90% of losses after $6.3bn hack point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.