Binance to restart withdrawals in phases on 15 networks, says 95% of stolen assets covered

UPDATED 20:48 UTC, 1 Nov: Between 06:00 and 15:30 UTC on Sunday, Binance processed $4.649 billion in withdrawals and $1.01 billion in deposits, a net outflow of about $3.64 billion, it said at 16:12 UTC. That is 2.1% of its $171 billion in assets under management, based on proof-of-reserves data as of 28 Oct. Binance said withdrawals are “stabilising as expected” after an initial spike. A new proof-of-reserves snapshot was taken at 00:00 UTC on 31 Oct, and the updated report, with a zero-knowledge proof, is “expected to be available on our PoR website tomorrow”, Monday 2 Nov. Testing of the remaining networks and assets continues, with no date yet for phase two.

UPDATED 14:47 UTC, 1 Nov: Withdrawals are now open on all 15 phase-one networks. Binance added Arbitrum (ARB, ETH, USDT, USDC) and Tron (TRX, USDT) at 10:48 UTC, Solana (SOL, USDT, USDC) at 11:15 UTC, Polygon (POL, USDT, USDC) and Avalanche C-Chain (AVAX, USDT, USDC) at 11:31 UTC, and Zcash, TON (USDT, GRAM) and Sui at 12:36 UTC, according to its withdrawal updates. It said it will “continue to restore additional assets and networks in phases as security checks are completed”. Co-founder Yi He said at 12:05 UTC that Binance’s community rewards campaign needs regulatory approval and will go live once a regulator has reviewed it after offices reopen on Monday. She said there is “currently no cash voucher campaign” and warned users about phishing and scam links.

UPDATED 10:48 UTC, 1 Nov: Withdrawals are back on seven of the 15 phase-one networks. In its latest withdrawal update at 10:03 UTC, Binance listed BTC; Ethereum (ETH, USDT, USDC); BNB Smart Chain (BNB, USDT, USDC); XRP; Base (ETH, USDC); DOGE; and Optimism (ETH, USDT, USDC). Tron, Solana, Zcash, TON, Polygon, Avalanche C-Chain, Arbitrum and Sui were not yet on that list, and Binance said it will restore more “in phases as security checks are completed”. Bitcoin was the first network to reopen, Binance said at 06:20 UTC. At 06:53 UTC it said it had added newly generated wallets to its proof-of-reserves address list and that “all withdrawals will be processed from these new wallet addresses”. Separately, Binance’s support account said that Binance Alpha trading, including token purchases with spot-wallet funds, is “temporarily suspended” as part of its security measures.

At a glance

• Binance says phase one of withdrawals will reopen between 06:00 and 09:00 UTC on Sunday 1 November, rolling out progressively across 15 networks including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Tron and Solana.
• The exchange says it has now covered about 95% of the amount taken in this week’s hack, up from 90%, with the remaining 5% made up of less liquid tokens outside its top ten.

Binance said it will begin restoring withdrawals in phases between 06:00 and 09:00 UTC on Sunday, in its fourth recovery update on X at 04:11 UTC.

The exchange said assets will become available “progressively as we complete security and readiness checks”. Withdrawals had not restarted at the time of publication.

Binance said it chose the first batch “based on the past week data of user demand”. More networks and assets will be added once they are ready, it said, and users should check the withdrawal page or the network status page for each asset.

What opens first

Binance co-founder Yi He said on X that the first batch covers 15 currencies across 15 networks. The list Binance published:

Wallets for other currencies are still under security review, Yi He said, and will be prioritised by market capitalisation, locked funds and user base.

Users may see delays or longer processing times because of traffic, Binance said. If a withdrawal on a listed network fails, “you can try again after a short while”, it said. Deposits remain open and were not affected.

Recovery so far

Binance said it has covered about 95% of the impacted amount, up from 90% in its previous update. In a separate post at 03:04 UTC, it put the figure at $6 billion.

BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and ZEC balances are “fully backed 100%”, the exchange said, pointing users to its proof of reserves snapshot. It said it is still buying the remaining assets through market and OTC channels.

“Binance will bear the financial impact of the stolen funds,” the update said. “These losses will not be passed on to users.”

Context

Binance paused withdrawals after the $6.3 billion theft disclosed on 29 October. It said on Friday that about 90% of the stolen assets were covered through its SAFU fund, futures insurance fund and company reserves, and that it was on track for a 1 November restart.

Binance said it will publish a post-incident report once the investigation is complete.

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This article is for information only and is not investment advice.