Binance withdrawals should be back online within the next 48 hours, co-CEO Yi He has said, less than a day after the exchange suffered what Bloomberg and CoinDesk describe as the largest crypto hack on record. Binance puts the damage at about $6.3 billion.
- Binance estimates the impact at around $6.3 billion, while Chainalysis puts it at roughly $6.4 billion.
- About $3 billion of the affected funds has been frozen with the help of blockchain partners.
- Preliminary findings point to a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer. No leaked wallet private keys have been found so far.
- Chainalysis and TRM Labs link the attack to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group. Binance hasn’t officially named an attacker.
- Deposits are running normally, and Binance says its SAFU fund and company money will cover all losses.
How Binance withdrawals were halted, step by step
- October 29, around 20:20 UTC: The attack begins and hits Binance’s main Ethereum hot wallet. According to AMBCrypto’s reconstruction, the attacker went on to drain hot wallets on 10 blockchains.
- October 29, 22:15 UTC: Binance posts on X that it has paused withdrawals and will restart them only once the security issue is fully resolved.
- October 29, 23:06 UTC: Binance also suspends Binance Alpha trading, FinanceFeeds reported. The outlet added that liquidations reached $627.7 million within an hour.
- By October 30: Yi He says the exchange expects to restore withdrawals within 48 hours. Bloomberg reported she expects them back by Sunday.
The liquidation wave is covered in more detail in our report on crypto liquidations after Binance paused withdrawals.
What went wrong inside Binance
Binance’s early findings, as CoinDesk reported, centre on one engineer’s machine. The attacker used the compromised laptop to reach a service container and submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions from there. Binance also said it had found no evidence that any wallet private key was leaked. If that holds, it would suggest the hacker abused Binance’s own withdrawal pipeline rather than stealing the keys that control its wallets.
Binance says it has revoked authorization for the compromised address and is working with law enforcement and blockchain intelligence firms. It has promised a detailed technical report once the investigation ends, plus an updated Proof of Reserves after its security upgrades are done.
According to Arkham data cited by CoinDesk, the hacker’s wallets at one point held more than $5.7 billion in crypto taken from Binance, including almost $1.5 billion in bitcoin and $900 million in ether. The total dwarfs Bybit’s $1.5 billion loss in February 2025, which AMBCrypto names as the incident this hack has now overtaken.
Binance has been here before, on a much smaller scale. In May 2019, hackers took more than $40 million in bitcoin. Binance covered that loss with its own funds, froze deposits and withdrawals for about a week and resumed trading on May 15, 2019, TechCrunch reported at the time. This time, the exchange expects a much faster restart.
Who investigators blame and how markets reacted
Chainalysis says funds stolen from Binance have been mixed with crypto tied to last month’s Bitget exploit. Co-founder Jonathan Levin said TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group, could be the attacker, and TRM Labs says it has high confidence in the same attribution, according to U.Today. TraderTraitor has been linked to the Bybit theft. Binance itself hasn’t confirmed who was behind the attack.
On compensation, Yi He said Binance will cover “all hacking losses,” and the exchange says its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and company funds will pay for them. CoinDesk reports SAFU, created in 2018, holds about $1 billion in bitcoin, well below the estimated impact.
Prices fell across the board. CoinDesk said bitcoin slipped back to about $77,000 after the news, and our earlier coverage tracked bitcoin’s price drop after the Binance hack. Of the coins in the table below, BNB took the heaviest daily hit.
| Asset | Price (USD) | 24h change | 7d change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $78,003 | -2.43% | -4.58% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | $2,228.31 | -3.67% | -7.27% |
| BNB | $705.70 | -5.98% | -5.01% |
| XRP | $1.25 | -3.04% | -5.93% |
| Solana (SOL) | $97.03 | -2.84% | -7.09% |
CoinGecko data as of October 30, 2026, 08:14 UTC.
Sentiment followed. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index stood at 30 (“Fear”) on October 30, and AMBCrypto noted the hack dragged sentiment to levels last seen in August. For a wider look at derivatives, see our piece on the Binance hack market impact on bitcoin longs.
What to watch before Binance withdrawals restart
The 48-hour target is the first test. Yi He said the team is “working on improving the withdrawal service and related address controls,” yet U.Today notes she didn’t say when Binance withdrawals would be fully restored. A phased reopening, with some assets or limits coming back before others, would fit that wording, though Binance hasn’t said so.
After that, a few open questions remain. Can the roughly $3 billion in frozen funds actually be recovered? What will the updated Proof of Reserves show once it’s published? And will Binance’s technical report confirm the laptop theory and the North Korea link?
For users, the episode is a reminder of custodial risk. Funds held on any exchange depend on that platform’s security and solvency, and withdrawals can be frozen without notice. Prices may stay volatile while investigators trace the stolen funds. None of this is investment advice.
Binance withdrawals FAQ
When will Binance withdrawals resume?
Co-CEO Yi He has said Binance expects to restore withdrawals within 48 hours, and Bloomberg reported she expects them back by Sunday. She didn’t give a date for full restoration.
Will Binance users lose money from the hack?
Binance says all losses will be covered by its SAFU fund and company funds. Deposits are working normally. Users can follow official Binance channels for updates.
Who was behind the Binance hack?
Chainalysis and TRM Labs have linked it to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group. Binance’s investigation is still ongoing and the exchange hasn’t named the attacker.
Sources
- Binance Reveals When It Will Resume Withdrawals After Historic Hack (U.Today)
- Binance to resume withdrawals within 48 hours after $6.3B hack – AMBCrypto (ambcrypto.com)
- Binance Halts Withdrawals After Suspected Hack, Says Funds ‘Remain Safe’ (financefeeds.com)
- Binance Suspends Deposits, Withdrawals After $6.3 Billion Hack Shakes Industry – Bloomberg (www.bloomberg.com)
- Binance loses over $6 billion in the largest crypto hack to date (www.coindesk.com)
- Binance Reveals Timeline for Resuming Withdrawals After Record-Breaking Hack (www.bitbase.com)
- binance resumes trading following 40m bitcoin hack (techcrunch.com)
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