Binance reopens withdrawals, bitcoin first, after replacing about 95% of the $6.3 billion stolen

Binance has started letting customers take their money out again, three days after it halted withdrawals following a theft it puts at about $6.3 billion. CoinDesk and crypto.news reported that bitcoin withdrawals came first on Sunday, November 1, in a window from 06:00 to 09:00 UTC, with further assets and networks to follow only once each passes its own security and stability checks. Binance has not given dates for those later phases.

The exchange said it has replaced about 95% of the affected assets, up from 90% on Saturday. "We've now replenished approximately 95% of the impacted assets," co-CEO Richard Teng said, as quoted by crypto.news. The remaining 5% is made up of tokens outside the top ten, which are less liquid and are being bought through market and over-the-counter channels, CoinDesk reported.

Binance says the money comes from its own resources, including its SAFU emergency fund, excess reserves in its futures insurance fund and its corporate treasury, and that losses will not be passed on to users. A proof-of-reserves snapshot from October 31 lists BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and ZEC as fully backed. crypto.news said the full zero-knowledge proof is due by Tuesday, November 3, and CoinDesk said about $3 billion of the stolen funds is frozen, mostly in stablecoins their issuers can block.