Binance co-founder and co-CEO Yi He has rejected comparisons between the exchange and collapsed rival FTX. She said Binance will fully restore its services only after its security systems are confirmed safe following the reported $6.3 billion hack.
Summary
- Yi He said customer withdrawals and the return to normal operations depend on securing Binance’s systems following the attack.
- She criticized exchanges and financial institutions that shut down without warning, leaving customers unable to access their funds or understand what happened to their deposits.
- Binance began restoring withdrawals for major cryptocurrencies on November 1, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, and several stablecoins.
- The exchange says it has replaced approximately 95% of the stolen assets using company resources. The remaining assets are harder-to-obtain cryptocurrencies.
- Binance has not announced when all affected withdrawal services will be restored, while its investigation into the October 29 breach continues.
In an X post on November 2, Yi He said Binance’s immediate priority was to secure its systems before allowing customers to withdraw their funds and returning to normal operations.
“Our top priority right now is to ensure the environment is secure, after which users can withdraw their funds and Binance can resume operations,” she wrote.
Her comments came in response to a post arguing that comparisons between Binance and FTX overlooked Binance’s financial position. The post claimed the exchange held approximately $171 billion in assets. Binance has separately reported that it has replaced 95% of the assets stolen during the October 29 attack.
Yi He responds to FTX comparisons and withdrawal concerns
Yi He also criticized exchanges, peer-to-peer platforms, and financial institutions that operate without transparency and then shut down without warning.
She said customers can be left unable to determine how much money they had deposited or what happened to their funds when these businesses stop operating.
“Every action has a motive,” she wrote, referring to situations where companies close, enter liquidation, or declare bankruptcy without giving customers a clear explanation or access to their money.
Although her comments addressed a post comparing Binance with FTX, Yi He did not directly mention the collapsed exchange in her own statement.
FTX collapsed in November 2022 after a wave of customer withdrawals exposed a multibillion-dollar gap in its assets. The collapse later led to criminal convictions involving former executives, including founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Binance has maintained that customers will not have to bear losses from the recent attack. The exchange is using its own resources to replace the stolen assets while gradually restoring withdrawal services.
Which Binance withdrawal services have resumed?
Binance began restoring Bitcoin withdrawals on November 1, nearly three days after suspending the service following the security breach.
According to the exchange’s recovery announcement, the first reopening phase was scheduled for 06:00 to 09:00 UTC on Sunday. It covered selected cryptocurrencies across 15 blockchain networks.
Later that day, Binance also reopened withdrawals for USDT and USDC on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain, along with ETH and BNB transfers.
Other networks included in the initial recovery plan were Tron, Solana, XRP Ledger, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, and Sui.
Binance said individual assets and networks would become available after its security teams completed their checks. The exchange prioritized cryptocurrencies that had seen higher customer demand during the previous week.
Deposits remained available throughout the withdrawal suspension, while services not affected by the incident continued operating.
The exchange warned that some transactions could face temporary delays as it monitored network activity during the reopening process.
Binance has not announced a specific date for restoring every affected withdrawal route.
Binance says it has replaced 95% of stolen assets
In its latest recovery update, Binance said it had replaced approximately 95% of the $6.3 billion in stolen assets using company resources.
The exchange reported that customer balances involving BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD, and ZEC were fully backed. The remaining 5% involved less liquid cryptocurrencies that were taking longer to obtain.
Binance also began buying back stolen cryptocurrencies through exchanges and over-the-counter trading desks using its existing reserves.
In an October 30 update, the company said it had allocated more than $6.34 billion to cover the incident, with approximately $5 billion already held in the corresponding affected tokens.
The exchange has used its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), corporate treasury, and futures insurance fund to support the replacement process.
Binance previously reported that around $3 billion in stolen assets had been frozen on-chain through cooperation with blockchain partners, token issuers, and law enforcement agencies.
After withdrawals resumed, Binance reported net customer withdrawals of approximately $3.64 billion, equal to 2.1% of its reported assets. The exchange said withdrawal activity had started to stabilize following the initial surge, while deposits remained substantial.
Investigation into the $6.3 billion Binance hack continues
The October 29 attack began at around 20:05 UTC, when hackers withdrew assets from Binance hot wallets across multiple blockchain networks.
Binance initially suggested that a compromised employee laptop may have allowed attackers to access its infrastructure and initiate unauthorized withdrawals.
Further investigations uncovered additional points of compromise, although the exchange said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked.
Blockchain investigators traced the stolen funds across 10 networks, with TRM Labs estimating the initial outflows at approximately $6.36 billion.
Binance has revoked affected authorizations, isolated compromised infrastructure, and introduced additional security measures while continuing its investigation.
The company has promised a detailed technical report explaining the attack. It also scheduled an updated proof-of-reserves report for November 2 to show its latest asset holdings and the reserves backing customer balances.