Binance users pull $3.6bn after record hack as exchange reopens

Binance customers pulled more than $3.6bn, or about £2.7bn, from the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange as trading restarted on Sunday, according to BBC Technology. The withdrawals followed a record hack that forced the company to halt all transactions last week.

The breach affected $6.3bn worth of assets, and the FBI is among the major bodies that have blamed North Korea for the cyber attack. It is described as the largest hack in history.

Binance said it had already recovered roughly 95% of what was taken in the incident. The rest could take longer to obtain, the firm added, while repeating its position that it intends to make good on every loss tied to the attack.

In a post on X, the exchange described an "initial spike" in withdrawal requests after it came back online. That surge then eased, and the company said the situation is settling as it had expected.

Bitcoin and Ethereum payouts are running again, according to the firm. Other services will return in stages, it said, once security checks are finished.

The figures give a sense of how customers reacted once they could move funds again. Binance had frozen activity across the platform while it dealt with the aftermath of the breach, and the reopening drew a heavy flow of requests from users seeking to take assets off the exchange.

The accusation against North Korea places the incident alongside earlier attacks that Western authorities have linked to the country. The FBI's involvement was noted in the reporting by BBC Technology.

Binance has not put a timeline on when the remaining services will be restored. It has said only that each stage will follow completed security checks, and that it will keep covering losses connected to the hack.