Binance resumes withdrawals after recovering 95 per cent of stolen tokens
The cryptocurrency exchange has restored access to 15 assets after covering most of the $6.3 billion lost in a heist.
Binance resumed withdrawals for bitcoin, ether and several stablecoins on Sunday after recovering 95 per cent of the $6.3 billion in tokens stolen from its platform, according to reports by Economic Times and Mint.
The exchange stated that it would use its own resources, including part of its $1 billion secure asset fund for users (SAFU), its Futures insurance fund and corporate treasure, to buy replacement tokens and cover the losses.
The first phase of restored withdrawals includes 15 cryptocurrencies such as XRP and dogecoin. Bitcoin withdrawals resumed shortly after 11:30 AM, while ether, BNB and some USDT and USDC stablecoins were also made available.
The FBI has linked the heist to a North Korean state-sponsored unit known as TraderTraitor. While the FBI made this connection on Saturday, Pyongyang has denied using state-linked cyber units for financial theft.
The exchange noted that the remaining 5 per cent of stolen tokens consist of less liquid assets that may take more time to source. Binance said it would restore withdrawals for other affected cryptocurrencies in phases.
Withdrawals were previously paused as a precaution to assess the impact and complete security checks. The company stated that it will bear the financial impact and will not pass losses to users.