SINGAPORE – Binance said on Nov 14 that it aims to reopen withdrawals for all remaining networks and assets by the end of next week, as operations normalise for the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange after a security breach linked to North Korea saw US$6.3 billion (S$8.1 billion) stolen from the platform in October.
“This week, we reopened withdrawals for 87 networks. We will aim to reopen withdrawals for all remaining networks and assets by the end of next week,” the company said in an X post.
Binance resumed withdrawals in phases earlier in November, after covering 95% of the US$6.3 billion in tokens stolen from its platform in what experts described as the largest cryptocurrency theft.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Binance have said North Korea was responsible for the Binance hack, but Pyongyang has denied that. Blockchain investigation firms have attributed it to a North Korean group known as “TraderTraitor”.
In its initial report on how hackers pulled off the heist, Binance detailed a multi-stage hacking endeavour that began in June and set off a series of security breaches culminating in the theft on Oct 29.
The theft has underlined the vulnerability of digital assets to attacks and raised questions about the impact of the hack on Binance, which has vowed to repay customers in full.
The company’s finance chief Kaiser Ng left the company just over a week after the heist, to pursue a new venture after more than five years at Binance.
He was replaced by long-time finance executive Justin Yek, who was most recently vice-president of finance at Airwallex.
Cryptocurrencies tumbled over the weekend, with Bitcoin slumping to a four-month low.
The largest digital asset sank 5.7% in the US on Nov 14 and continued to drop in Asia on Nov 15 to as low as US$62,112, down a further 3.6% and its weakest since July 14. Second-biggest token Ether, which slumped 8% in the US session, fell another 3.4% on Nov 15 to US$1,711, its lowest since July 8.
Crypto has been pummelled in recent weeks by a confluence of factors, including the expectation of higher interest rates, large outflows from US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, an AI-fuelled risk-off mood and continued fallout from the recent US$6 billion Binance hack.
Bitcoin has slumped about 25% since Oct 21. Its low for 2026 is US$57,742, reached on July 1.
Large liquidation events – in which more than US$500 million worth of Bitcoin positions are wiped over 24 hours – are becoming a recurring feature in the market, as sharp swings repeatedly flushed leveraged traders out of their bets.
On Nov 13, Bitcoin’s slide triggered the liquidation of roughly US$1.3 billion in long crypto bets over 24 hours, with Bitcoin positions accounting for the majority of that sum, according to Coinglass data.
In the 24 hours through 7am on Nov 15 in Singapore, exchanges tracked by Coinglass recorded about US$2 billion of crypto liquidations, including US$774 million in Bitcoin and US$488 million in Ether. Long positions accounted for the vast majority of the liquidations.
From Oct 30 through Nov 13, US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs saw almost US$3 billion in net outflows.
Richard Galvin, executive chairman at crypto investment firm DACM, said the impending initial public offering of artificial intelligence company Anthropic PBC may be drawing capital away from crypto.
“Price performance looks very similar to what happened through the SpaceX IPO pricing period earlier this year,” Galvin said. “It appears crypto remains a short-term funding source, particularly for retail investors. This is in addition to all the other macro headwinds.” REUTERS, BLOOMBERG