A Binance shareholder is calling on the exchange to explain the October 29, 2026 hack, accept responsibility for the failure, and strengthen its security, following the loss of approximately $6.3 billion from its hot wallets—one of the largest security breaches in crypto history.
What happened inside Binance
Funds were drained across roughly 10 blockchains in about 20 minutes. Initial investigations pointed to a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer, which reportedly gave intruders access to services that sign wallet transactions.
Later analysis described the intrusion as a multi-month campaign that combined social engineering, malware infiltration, and misuse of Binance’s own internal AI tools. The FBI has attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean group linked to prior attacks by the Lazarus group.
How Binance is responding
Binance co-CEOs Richard Teng and Yi He have committed to covering all losses from corporate funds. The exchange has set aside more than $6.34 billion for recovery, including money from its SAFU reserves, the emergency fund kept for such scenarios.
The plan also calls for replenishing 98% of affected assets. Binance has said it will publish Proof of Reserves to show it holds enough assets to back customer balances.
Approximately $2.85–3 billion in assets has been frozen or intercepted, with stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle cooperating in those efforts. Withdrawals began returning in phases on November 1, 2026, tied to a rebuild of Binance’s security setup and independent reviews.
Why the shareholder is pushing
Covering losses and explaining them are different matters. Binance has put money on the table, but the shareholder’s call is about accountability and disclosure, not just reimbursement. Investors and customers want to know how a single laptop ended up holding the keys to billions, and whether the weaknesses that allowed a months-long campaign have been closed.
What this means for users, investors and the industry
For Binance customers, the immediate risk appears contained on paper: the exchange has pledged full coverage, a large chunk of funds is frozen, and withdrawals have resumed. The real test will be whether the Proof of Reserves report holds up to scrutiny once published.
For shareholders, a reserve commitment of more than $6.34 billion is a substantial hit, even for a company of Binance’s scale. Investors will want clarity on how that spending affects the business and whether the SAFU fund will be rebuilt.
Key items to watch include the published Proof of Reserves, any detailed post-incident report from Binance, and further progress in recovering outstanding funds.
