Nov 1 (Reuters) - Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, resumed bitcoin withdrawals on Sunday and said others would follow in phases after covering 95% of the $6.3 billion in tokens stolen from its platform in the world's largest digital heist.
The heist, which the FBI has tied to North Korea and which analysts say may be the biggest financial robbery ever, adds to a string of crypto thefts. Last year, attackers stole $2.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency across nearly 150 attacks,
according to researchers at TRM Labs.
Binance, founded in China, posted on its status page shortly after 0600 GMT that the planned withdrawals had begun. The first phase is to cover 15 cryptoassets including bitcoin, ether, XRP and dogecoin.
Binance said it had covered $6 billion of stolen cryptocurrencies by using company money to buy replacement tokens. The remaining 5% of stolen tokens consist of assets that are less liquid and may take longer to source in the required amounts, according to the exchange.
FBI TIES ATTACK TO NORTH KOREAN UNIT
The FBI said on Saturday the North Korean state-sponsored unit known as TraderTraitor was responsible for the attack.
Pyongyang has for years denied using state-linked cyber units for espionage, financial theft and revenue. Its mission in Geneva and embassy in China did not respond to requests for comment.
Law enforcement observed members of the unit converting stolen assets into the cryptocurrency ether, the FBI said in a statement, adding that it expected "further laundering" of the assets through the use of related technology.
Analysts had also blamed North Korea for the heist.
The bulk of the theft unfolded in around 20 minutes beginning late on Thursday and bore similarities to previous large attacks blamed on North Korea, according to US blockchain analysis firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis.
US President Donald Trump, however, said on Saturday that the US was still not certain if North Korea was involved.
"We don't know if it's North Korea — but if it is, we'll talk to North Korea about it," Trump told reporters on Saturday in comments posted by a White House handle on X.
BINANCE VOWS TO BEAR FINANCIAL COSTS
Binance has been working with industry partners to freeze some of the affected assets, with about $3 billion located as of Friday, it said.
The exchange has repeatedly said it would bear the financial impact of the funds stolen in the hack. It has set aside around $6.34 billion of company funds internally to cover the losses.
The money spent buying replacement tokens came from Binance's $1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users( SAFU), a bitcoin reserve it holds to protect customers in the event of security breaches, as well as some of its Futures Insurance Fund and its corporate treasury, it said on X.
Co-CEO Yi He said on Saturday that 50% of its SAFU funds would be used, while the company committed to replenishing the fund to about $1 billion.
Richard Teng, the other co-CEO, has said that the breach was a "complex attack" involving a compromised laptop and malicious software designed to delete evidence of its activity, making it harder to trace and investigate.
Crypto prices fell on Friday, while Binance sought to reassure customers that their funds were safe after the hack.
Binance, which allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets, has 335 million registered users globally and had about $162.8 billion in assets under custody as of its 2025 annual report.
(Reporting by Angela Christy and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Elizabeth Howcroft and Max Cherney; Editing by William Mallard)
