CZ: Binance Covered $6.3B Hack Solely From Balance Sheet, No Loans, No Asset Sales, No Fundraising

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, has publicly clarified that the exchange covered the $6.3B hack entirely from its own balance sheet.

From Crisis to 100%: How Binance Absorbed the Losses Internally

In a post on X dated November 2, he stated: “Binance did not borrow money. Binance did not sell assets. Binance did not raise money. Binance covered from its balance sheet.” CZ’s full post is available here.

The confirmation came days after the exchange suffered the largest crypto theft on record on October 29, 2026.

Attackers drained funds across roughly ten networks in under 30 minutes. Blockchain analytics firms Chainalysis and TRM Labs attributed the breach to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

Binance completed its initial investigation and traced the breach to a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop. No private keys were leaked.

Binance deployed a combination of its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), a portion of its Futures insurance fund, and corporate treasury to cover the losses.

Stablecoin issuers moved quickly, with Tether freezing approximately $1.57B USDT and Circle blocking over $800M USDC. Ripple also froze $200M in RLUSD as part of the coordinated industry response.

By October 31, Binance confirmed replenishment of roughly 90% of impacted funds. Major assets, BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, and XRP, reached full 100% backing.

CZ’s November 2 update confirmed the allocation is now complete. Only minor conversions of smaller, less-liquid tokens remain.

The approach stands in sharp contrast to past exchange failures. FTX misused customer funds and lacked reserves. Mt. Gox never made users whole.

Here, Binance absorbed the full loss internally without touching user balances or turning to outside capital.

Withdrawals Resume as Deposits Begin to Outpace Outflows

Binance has begun phased resumption of withdrawals across nine networks. ETH-based assets including LINK and SHIB are back online.

SOL-based tokens and major coins like BTC, XRP, and ETH are being restored progressively as security checks complete.

Co-founder Yi He confirmed the re-enablement timeline via X. Separately, Binance data showed that hourly deposits have started to exceed withdrawals.

CZ noted that the majority of outflows are going to self-custody wallets, not competing exchanges, a signal the platform is retaining user trust.

The broader policy conversation continues. Senator Lummis noted that CLARITY Act freeze tools could have limited the losses had they been in place.

President Trump also flagged digital money risks in the wake of the breach. Meanwhile, CZ separately addressed a controversy over SpaceX shares, clarifying he never advised selling Elon Musk’s company stock.

For investors, the episode highlights one clear takeaway: Binance’s pre-existing reserves were large enough to absorb a $6.3B shock without forced selling or external capital raises, a dynamic that analysts have contrasted with the Coinbase premium seen during FTX’s collapse.

Residual risks include final small-token conversions and pending regulatory responses, but the live hack update tracker shows the platform moving steadily toward full operational normalcy.