Binance Hack: Probe Finds Wider Breach, Exchange Targets Sunday Restart of Withdrawals
Co-CEO Richard Teng says the $6.3 billion attack went beyond a single compromised laptop. Binance has set aside over $6.34 billion to cover losses and plans a proof-of-reserves update.
Two days after the biggest theft in crypto history, Binance says the attack on its systems was broader than it first believed. Co-CEO Richard Teng said investigators have found more points of entry beyond the engineer’s laptop that was initially suspected, although the full chain of events is still being pieced together. “This was a complex attack,” he said.
How the hackers got in
According to Teng, the attackers used Ethereum’s EIP-7702 account-delegation feature to take control of one of the exchange’s internet-connected hot wallets without going through Binance’s normal approval process. They also used a self-destruct mechanism to wipe traces of their activity. Earlier reporting by CoinDesk said roughly $2.5 billion was drained within minutes.
Withdrawals and reserves
Withdrawals remain frozen across multiple networks while Binance rebuilds and tests its infrastructure. Teng said the exchange hopes to switch them back on by Sunday. Binance plans to publish an initial proof-of-reserves update first, followed by a full report on Monday.
The company has promised to absorb all of the roughly $6.3 billion in losses from its own funds. It says it has set aside more than $6.34 billion for the purpose, of which about $5 billion is already held in the affected tokens, with the balance being bought on exchanges and over-the-counter markets.
A question mark over customer funds
Teng maintains that the hackers hit Binance’s own hot wallet rather than customer money. However, a separate CoinDesk review of the exchange’s reserve data found that the compromised wallets had previously been listed among the assets backing customer balances.
Stablecoin issuers moved quickly after the breach. Tether froze about $1.56 billion linked to the hack and Circle froze around $800 million as the stolen coins moved across their networks. Binance says it is working with law enforcement, blockchain analysts and token issuers to recover the rest.
“Crypto exchange Binance hacked” was among the rising searches in India on Google Trends on Saturday.
Featured image: A Bitcoin ATM store sign in Wrocław, Poland. Photo: Matti Blume, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (source).
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