Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance says it has set aside more than $6.3bn to compensate users affected by a major cyberattack, as efforts to trace and recover the stolen digital assets continue.
The company said it had already secured about $5bn in the exact cryptocurrency assets affected by the breach and was working to acquire the outstanding amount through different channels.
The assurance comes amid growing concerns over the scale of the attack, believed to be the largest cryptocurrency theft on record, involving assets valued at approximately $6.3bn.
Binance said it had also frozen about $3bn worth of the affected assets and had begun recovering funds for users, while working with law enforcement agencies and other partners to trace and secure additional amounts.
The company maintained that its commitment to cover the losses would be met through its corporate funds, stressing that the funds already frozen were separate from the $6.3bn reserve.
However, cybersecurity experts have warned that recovering the remaining assets could prove difficult, as the attackers are likely to deploy sophisticated methods to conceal the movement of the stolen cryptocurrency.
Jake Moore, Global Cybersecurity Advisor at software company ESET, said the hackers could transfer the funds repeatedly across different digital currencies and platforms to frustrate efforts to trace them.
He explained that the attackers might spend months disguising the origin of the assets before attempting to convert them into conventional currencies.
Joe Hancock, head of cyber risk and complex investigations at law firm Mishcon de Reya, similarly warned that the laundering process could continue for weeks or months.
He said investigators could face difficulties recovering the assets unless they reached an exchange or another service capable of converting cryptocurrency into conventional money.
The breach has also raised concerns about the wider stability of the cryptocurrency market, particularly given Binance’s reported control of approximately 35 per cent of the global crypto market.
Bitcoin reportedly fell by five per cent following the incident, although analysts warned that further market reactions could emerge as restrictions on affected assets are lifted.
Binance’s initial investigation reportedly suggested that a compromised laptop may have been involved in the breach, although subsequent findings pointed to additional possible points of intrusion.
The company has not identified those responsible, while analysts have pointed to North Korea-linked hacking group TraderTraitor as a possible suspect. Investigations are continuing.
The incident has revived memories of the 2022 collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which left customers facing substantial losses after assurances about the company’s financial position failed to prevent its collapse.
Binance founder, Changpeng Zhao, has defended the exchange’s financial capacity to absorb the losses, insisting that customers’ funds remain protected.
Meanwhile, cybersecurity specialists have urged individual cryptocurrency investors to strengthen the security of their digital wallets, avoid suspicious links and messages, verify trading platforms and consider offline hardware wallets for storing assets.
The latest breach has renewed scrutiny of cybersecurity safeguards in the cryptocurrency industry, where transactions can be difficult to reverse once stolen assets have been transferred beyond the reach of exchanges and investigators
