Key Takeaways
- Less liquid tokens account for the outstanding 10% of stolen assets.
- Company funds and emergency reserves support the replenishment effort.
- Withdrawals remain targeted for Sunday, Nov. 1, Binance said.
10 Cryptos Fully Backed as Binance Narrows Shortfall
Binance reported progress replacing stolen assets in its third security incident update on X on Oct. 31. After noting that approximately 80% of the hacked losses had been covered at the time of its preceding update, the exchange stated:
“That covered amount is now up to 90%. All BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD, and ZEC are fully backed 100%.”
Less liquid cryptocurrencies outside that group make up the remaining shortfall, and industry partners are helping source sufficient quantities. More than $6.34 billion in company funds had been set aside under the preceding recovery plan.
“We will continue to buy the remaining relevant token assets through market and OTC channels until the covered amount reaches 100% for all tokens. Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users,” the crypto exchange pledged.
The exchange’s initial hack findings pointed to a possible compromised employee laptop that enabled unauthorized withdrawal submissions. Binance reported no evidence of leaked wallet private keys at that stage. Its original loss-coverage pledge named SAFU and company funds.
Emergency and Insurance Funds Support Token Purchases
Replenishment draws on corporate treasury funds, futures insurance reserves, and the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), an emergency reserve protecting user assets during security incidents. A partial SAFU deployment was expected within 24 hours of the statement, with its public bitcoin wallet available for monitoring. Binance committed to restoring SAFU to approximately $1 billion.
The fund’s conversion from stablecoins into bitcoin began earlier this year, including a first $100 million batch reported in February. Its broader allocation plan targeted $1 billion in BTC. Despite bitcoin already being fully covered, part of SAFU would finance purchases of other outstanding tokens.
Futures Insurance Funds cover deficits from bankrupt trading positions and help pay profitable positions in full. Addressing their use, Binance stated:
“Binance has rebalanced its Futures Insurance Funds to move a portion of the balance to cover the affected assets.”
The company said it released only excess reserves, leaving the required regulatory balance and internal risk coverage intact.
Those reserves include liquidation clearance fees, charges imposed when positions are forcibly closed, and receive company top-ups when required. Binance monitors historical stress scenarios but acknowledged that volatility can trigger auto-deleveraging, which automatically reduces other traders’ profitable positions when insurance reserves cannot absorb bankrupt positions. The publicly available fund balance refreshes daily at midnight Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Reserve Verification Pending as Sunday Restart Target Holds
A new snapshot taken at midnight UTC on Oct. 31 was published through Binance’s proof-of-reserves system, the exchange said. Generating the zero-knowledge proof, which verifies calculations without exposing individual customer balances, requires approximately 40 to 50 hours. Holders of the 10 tokens were expected to be able to verify minimum 1:1 backing by Tuesday, Nov. 3, UTC.
Customer verification checks account inclusion in Binance’s liabilities calculation, while public blockchain transaction records show address holdings and transfers. The futures insurance fund is tracked separately as company reserves and is outside customer proof of reserves.
Resuming withdrawals remained Binance’s next operational milestone. In its Oct. 31 statement, the exchange said it remained on track to reopen withdrawals Sunday, Nov. 1. It planned to provide another update once the reopening details were confirmed.
