Binance Sets Aside Over $6.34 Billion for Hack Losses as Verification Questions Linger

By Coinvote

Published October 30, 2026 - 15:23 UTC | 4 mins read

Binance says it has reserved more than $6.34 billion of its own funds to cover the record hack, with $5 billion already held in the stolen tokens. Independent analysts say they cannot yet confirm those holdings, and withdrawals reportedly remain paused.

Binance puts a number on its repayment plan

According to Cointelegraph, Binance has earmarked over $6.34 billion of its own money for losses tied to the hack it confirmed on Friday. Of that total, $5 billion is already held in the same tokens that were stolen. A Binance spokesperson told the outlet that the assets are in the exchange's custody.

The Block, CoinDesk and The Defiant carry the same headline figure. The Defiant's summary adds that withdrawals remain paused while the exchange carries out a security overhaul. None of the three shorter items, as summarised, says when withdrawals might resume.

What is known about the attack itself

According to Cointelegraph, Binance confirmed a $6.3 billion theft, which the outlet describes as the largest on record in cryptocurrency. TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence firm, reported that money left Binance wallets on ten different chains on Thursday. TRM Labs attributed the attack to the North Korean hacking group TraderTraitor.

Binance said about $3 billion in affected assets was frozen with help from blockchain partners. Cointelegraph reported that those frozen assets were left out of the company funds set aside for compensation. Binance has not said how much stolen crypto has been recovered beyond those freezes.

The numbers behind the announcement

The figures below come from Cointelegraph's full report, with the headline total matching the other three outlets.

More than $6.34 billion in company funds set aside to cover losses.
$5 billion of that held in the exact token assets that were taken.
About $3 billion in affected assets frozen with blockchain partners.
$6.3 billion total hack, drained from wallets on 10 blockchains.
CertiK's estimate of a potential $2.1 billion gap before Binance's latest announcement, equal to about 1.3% of the $165 billion in reserves Binance reports.
An emergency fund of $1.17 billion, according to CertiK, or roughly $1.16 billion, according to Nansen.

Where the outlets agree and where they differ

All four outlets report the $6.34 billion allocation, while The Block, Cointelegraph and CoinDesk also report roughly $3 billion in frozen assets. They differ in how they relate the two. The Block says the $3 billion was frozen on top of the allocation, and Cointelegraph says the frozen assets were excluded from it. CoinDesk's summary says the reserved funds include freezes of roughly $3 billion, which reads as a different arrangement.

Only Cointelegraph's account has enough detail to test the claim. CertiK told the outlet that Binance would have to supply further information before it could judge if the $5 billion in matching tokens can be checked independently on-chain. Nansen said it could not confirm what funds Binance had beyond its emergency fund, or where the money for the remaining losses would come from.

Earlier on Friday, CertiK CEO Ronghui Gu estimated that the frozen assets and the emergency fund together could cover about 66% of the reported losses. That would leave a potential $2.1 billion gap. Binance's later announcement is aimed at that shortfall, though Binance did not say when it acquired the $5 billion in tokens.

How Binance says it can pay

Binance co-founder Yi He said this year's revenue is enough to absorb the hack losses and that selling the company's SpaceX stake is not required. Founder Changpeng Zhao said the SpaceX position by itself is valued at over $1 billion and traces to a $500 million investment connected to Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition.

Zhao also explained that Binance builds up holdings of the coins it lists since users are able to pay trading fees with them. In another post, he said Gulf, Binance's Thailand partner, had offered financial backing. Zhao left the CEO role in 2023 and subsequently spent four months in US custody for anti-money-laundering violations. He remains a major shareholder, and Forbes estimated his personal fortune at approximately $115 billion.

Why the proof-of-reserves report matters

Holding the same tokens that were stolen has a practical advantage. Repaying customers in kind means the exchange does not need to buy large amounts on the open market, which could move prices. Cointelegraph reported that Binance has not said which tokens remain to be bought or when the buying will be finished.

The spokesperson declined to share wallet addresses for security reasons. Instead, Binance said the next proof-of-reserves report will show the holdings; that report covers assets backing customer balances. Binance also said it files weekly company-fund reports with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority in Abu Dhabi Global Market, an obligation that predated the hack.

For holders with balances on the exchange, the next report is the first public document that could confirm the claim. Project teams whose tokens traded on Binance can watch for any statement on which assets are affected, since the exchange has not named them.

Open questions to watch

Several points remain unresolved in the reporting. Binance has not said which tokens it still has to buy, when it acquired the $5 billion it already holds, or how much of the stolen crypto has been recovered. It is also unclear whether the frozen $3 billion counts toward customer compensation, given the outlets' differing descriptions.

The date for resuming withdrawals is another open question. The Defiant's summary says they remain paused during the security overhaul, but none of the outlets describes a timeline. Whether on-chain analysts such as CertiK can match the proof-of-reserves entries to the claimed holdings will show how far the $5 billion figure can be verified.

FAQ

How much has Binance set aside to cover the hack?

Binance said it has set aside more than $6.34 billion in company funds, according to Cointelegraph. Of that amount, $5 billion is already held in the same tokens that were stolen.

Who is blamed for the Binance hack?

TRM Labs reported that assets left Binance wallets on 10 chains on Thursday. It attributed the attack to the North Korean hacking group TraderTraitor, as reported by Cointelegraph.

Can the $5 billion in tokens be independently verified?

Not yet, according to Cointelegraph. CertiK said it needed more information from Binance, and Binance declined to share wallet addresses. Binance says its next proof-of-reserves report will include the holdings.