Binance said it has covered 90% of the $6.3 billion in assets stolen in a hack on Thursday, with the remaining 10% expected to take longer to source. The company pledged to cover 100% of losses and said it set aside more than $6.34 billion in company funds to do so. "Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users," the company stated.
The FBI attributed the attack to North Korea on Saturday. Binance said its initial investigation suggested an engineer's laptop was compromised, allowing access to unauthorised withdrawals, but a later update disclosed "additional points of breach". Co-CEO Richard Teng said the hack involved more than one person and used sophisticated methods to hide tracks, including a "self-destruct mechanism".
Binance restored withdrawals on several networks after suspending them following the hack. The company said all holdings of bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and seven other widely-traded crypto assets are covered. Binance froze around $3 billion of stolen assets after working with law enforcement, intelligence firms and partners. The US Secret Service said on Friday it is "working around the clock" with private sector partners "to identify, freeze, trace, and recover funds" stolen from Binance. The investigation is ongoing.