Binance covers 90% of $6.3 Billion crypto hack, says remaining funds may take time

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, claimed that it has covered 90 per cent of the $6.3bn (£4.7bn) in assets stolen in a hack that took place on Thursday. The company added that the remaining 10 per cent of the stolen amount may take longer to source in the required amounts.

Binance has often promised to cover every dollar lost in what is suspected to be crypto's biggest hack on record, revealing that it has set aside over $6.34bn of its own funds to do so. The company said in the statement on Saturday that Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not the users.

By Sunday, Binance reported that withdrawals had resumed across several of its networks after being paused in the wake of the breach, following its earlier promise to restore access in stages. On Saturday, the FBI formally attributed the attack to North Korea.

US President Donald Trump responds

According to the FBI, investigators tracked the hackers converting the stolen funds into Ethereum, with further conversions expected through decentralised finance platforms and instant swap services. Before the FBI’s statement, two separate blockchain analytics firms stated that they had strong evidence linking the theft to the Lazarus Group — North Korea’s state-sponsored hacking unit also known as TraderTraitor, which the FBI went on to name explicitly.

Meanwhile, in response, US President Donald Trump said the US is unsure who the culprits really are. "We're learning about it. We don't know if it's North Korea - but if it is, we'll talk to North Korea about it," he said. Binance claimed that the company had replenished the stolen assets using multiple funds and its own corporate treasury. All holdings of the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether have been covered, along with seven other widely-traded crypto assets.