Binance says 90% of hacked funds covered, expects withdrawals to reopen Nov. 1
In brief
- Binance says 90% of stolen funds are now covered, up from about 80% previously.
- Binance says it will put more than $6.3 billion in company funds toward the incident.
- Ten assets, including BTC, ETH and USDT, are fully backed at 100%, Binance says.
- Withdrawals are expected to reopen November 1, according to Binance.
- Zero-knowledge proof-of-reserves results are expected by November 3, the exchange said.
Where the money is coming from
Binance said on Friday it would allocate more than $6.3 billion in company funds to cover the incident. It's drawing on three pools: its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), its Futures insurance fund and its corporate treasury. The exchange said it's still buying the remaining affected assets through market and OTC channels.
Binance says its users won't absorb the loss. The exchange will.
SAFU was set up in 2018 as an emergency reserve for cases like security breaches. Binance said it expects to deploy part of the fund within 24 hours and has committed to restoring SAFU to around $1 billion (that's the exchange's own commitment, and it hasn't been independently verified).
The Futures insurance fund covers losses from bankrupt futures positions and helps limit auto-deleveraging. Binance put part of it toward the recovery and said the remaining balance is still above the minimum its risk-management rules require. If the balance falls below that level, the company said it would top it up with corporate funds.
Which assets are fully backed
On Saturday, Binance confirmed that 10 major crypto assets and stablecoins were fully backed at 100%: BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and ZEC. Those figures come from Binance's statements, as reported by Crypto Briefing.
Proof of reserves and the withdrawal restart
The exchange also published a new Proof of Reserves snapshot based on asset balances recorded at 00:00 UTC on October 31. Binance said generating the full zero-knowledge proof would take about 40 to 50 hours, with results expected by November 3. Once that's out, users holding any of the 10 fully backed tokens would be able to check that their balances have at least 1:1 backing.
Binance said it's now focused on resuming withdrawals and expects the service to reopen on November 1, as it previously announced. Both the restart date and the proof-of-reserves timeline are Binance's expectations, and neither has happened yet.
Frequently asked questions
What is Binance's SAFU fund?
SAFU, the Secure Asset Fund for Users, was set up in 2018 as an emergency reserve to protect users in cases such as security breaches. Binance said it expects to deploy part of SAFU within 24 hours and has committed to restoring it to around $1 billion.
When will Binance withdrawals resume after the hack?
Binance said it is focused on resuming withdrawals and expects the service to reopen on November 1, as previously announced. That date is the exchange's expectation, not a confirmed restart.
How can Binance users verify their balances are backed?
Binance published a Proof of Reserves snapshot based on balances recorded at 00:00 UTC on October 31. The exchange said the full zero-knowledge proof would take about 40 to 50 hours, with results expected by November 3. Holders of the 10 fully backed tokens would then be able to verify at least 1:1 backing.
