Binance co-founder and co-CEO Yi He has pushed back against comparisons between the exchange and collapsed rival FTX, saying full operations will resume only after its security systems are confirmed safe following the $6.3 billion hack.
Summary
- Binance co-founder Yi He has pushed back against comparisons with collapsed exchange FTX, saying customer withdrawals and full operations depend on securing the platform following the $6.3 billion hack.
- Yi He criticized fraudulent exchanges and financial institutions that shut down without warning, leaving customers unable to access their funds or determine what happened to their deposits.
- Binance began restoring withdrawals for major cryptocurrencies on November 1, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB and several stablecoins among the assets included in the phased reopening.
- The exchange says it has replaced approximately 95% of the $6.3 billion in stolen assets using company resources, while the remaining holdings involve cryptocurrencies that are harder to obtain.
- Binance has not announced a date for restoring every affected withdrawal service, while its investigation into the October 29 breach continues.
In a November 2 X post, Yi He said Binance’s immediate priority was securing its systems before allowing customers to withdraw funds and restoring 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 the exchange’s liquidity position. The quoted post claimed Binance held approximately $171 billion in assets, while the company has separately reported replacing 95% of the assets stolen during the October 29 attack.
Yi He criticized financial institutions that shut down without warning, leaving customers unable to determine what happened to their money.
Yi He responds to FTX comparisons and withdrawal concerns
In her response, Yi He argued that some fraudulent exchanges, peer-to-peer platforms and commercial banks operate with opaque financial records, making it difficult for customers to establish how much money they held when those businesses collapse.
She said such institutions can disappear without providing explanations, leaving customers with no clear account of where their deposits went.
“Every action has a motive,” she wrote, describing situations where companies cease operations, enter liquidation or declare bankruptcy while customers remain unable to withdraw their funds.
Although her remarks addressed a post discussing comparisons with FTX, Yi He did not directly name the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange in her own statement.
FTX collapsed in November 2022 after a wave of customer withdrawals exposed a multibillion-dollar shortfall in its assets. Its failure subsequently led to criminal convictions involving former executives, including founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Binance has maintained that its customers will not bear losses from the recent attack, with the exchange using company resources to replace stolen assets while gradually reopening 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 between 06:00 and 09:00 UTC on Sunday, covering selected cryptocurrencies across 15 networks.
Later that day, Binance reopened stablecoin withdrawals for USDT and USDC on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain, alongside ETH and BNB transfers.
Other supported networks in the initial recovery plan included Tron, Solana, XRP Ledger, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Base, Optimism and Sui.
Binance said individual assets and networks would become available once security teams completed their checks, with priority given to cryptocurrencies that had experienced higher customer demand during the preceding week.
Deposits remained operational throughout the withdrawal suspension, while unaffected platform services continued running.
Customers were warned that transactions could experience temporary processing delays as the exchange monitored network activity during the reopening.
Binance has not provided a single date for restoring every affected withdrawal route.
Binance has replaced 95% of stolen assets
The exchange’s latest recovery update stated that approximately 95% of the $6.3 billion stolen during the October 29 attack had been replenished using company resources.
Binance said balances involving BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and ZEC were fully backed, while the remaining 5% involved less liquid cryptocurrencies that were taking longer to obtain.
As crypto.news previously reported, Binance began repurchasing 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.
Binance has drawn on its Secure Asset Fund for Users, corporate treasury and futures insurance fund to support the replacement program.
The company previously reported that approximately $3 billion in stolen assets had been frozen on-chain through cooperation with blockchain partners, token issuers and law enforcement agencies.
Following the reopening, Binance reported net customer withdrawals of approximately $3.64 billion, equivalent to 2.1% of its reported assets. It said withdrawal activity had begun stabilizing after an initial surge, while deposits remained substantial.
Investigation into the $6.3 billion Binance hack continues
The October 29 attack began around 20:05 UTC, with hackers draining assets from Binance’s 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.
Subsequent investigations uncovered additional points of compromise, although the exchange said it had found no evidence that wallet private keys were leaked.
Blockchain investigators separately 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 controls while continuing its investigation.
The company has promised a detailed technical report covering the attack and scheduled an updated proof-of-reserves report for November 2 to show its latest asset holdings and the reserves backing customer balances.
