Binance resumes withdrawals after recovering 95% of stolen crypto assets

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Sunday that it has resumed withdrawals after recovering about 95% of the $6.3 billion in digital assets stolen from its platform. The theft, the largest of its kind globally, has been linked by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to North Korea.

The China-founded platform said the first phase of withdrawals will cover 15 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Dogecoin, among others.

Binance explained it has compensated for around $6 billion of the stolen digital assets by using company funds to purchase alternative coins to replace the lost assets. The remaining 5% consists of less liquid digital assets, which may take longer to recover in sufficient quantities.

This incident is part of a series of cryptocurrency thefts affecting the sector. According to researchers at TRM Labs, hackers stole $2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrencies last year across about 150 separate attacks.

On Saturday, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said North Korea’s state-backed "Trader Traitor" unit was behind the attack. Pyongyang has long denied using state-linked cyber units for espionage, financial theft, or revenue generation. Its diplomatic mission in Geneva and embassy in China did not respond to requests for comment.

The FBI stated that law enforcement tracked members of the unit converting stolen assets into the Ethereum cryptocurrency, and expects further laundering attempts using related techniques.

Analysts had suggested North Korea was responsible for the attack, noting the Binance theft could be the largest financial heist in history. However, US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States had not yet confirmed North Korean involvement.

Trump told reporters, in comments published by a White House-affiliated account on X: "We don’t know if North Korea is behind it, but if they are, we will discuss it with them."

Binance said it is working with partners in the cryptocurrency sector to freeze some affected assets, noting that about $3 billion in assets had been identified as of Friday.

The platform has repeatedly stated it will bear the financial impact of the stolen funds, allocating around $6.34 billion of company funds internally to cover the losses.

It added that the funds used to purchase alternative coins came from its $1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users, which holds a Bitcoin reserve to protect customers in case of security breaches, as well as from its futures insurance fund and company treasury.

Binance allows users to buy, sell, and trade digital assets. It has about 335 million registered users worldwide, and held $162.8 billion in assets on behalf of its clients as of last year’s annual report.