Binance Outflows Reach $5.28 Billion Despite Deposits Regaining the Lead
Key Facts
Net outflows from Binance reached about $5.28 billion as of 03:00 UTC on November 3, even though deposits exceeded withdrawals by about $10 million in that hour, according to CoinDesk. The net figure reflects cumulative money flows, while the hourly shift indicates that deposits had regained the lead at that moment. Gross withdrawals from the platform totaled $10.97 billion over the 46 hours after the hack. This coincided with a gradual resumption of withdrawals, while Binance said token assets worth about $6.3 billion were affected by the breach of its hot wallets. Co-CEO Richard Teng said in Hong Kong on November 3 that hourly inflows and outflows had “largely returned to normal.”
The figures show the difference between total customer withdrawals and net outflows: $10.97 billion was the value of gross withdrawals recorded over 46 hours, while cumulative net outflows reached $5.28 billion as of November 3. At the peak of the movement on November 1, outflows exceeded inflows by $936 million in a single hour. Total withdrawals in that hour reached $1.24 billion, according to CoinDesk. The peak illustrates the scale of activity during a specific period, while cumulative net flows reflect the difference between money entering and leaving over the period. By 03:00 UTC on November 3, deposits exceeded withdrawals by about $10 million in the hour, while cumulative net flows remained negative.
Binance said the hot-wallet breach occurred on October 29 and resulted in estimated losses of about $6.3 billion in token assets. The company added that it would absorb the financial impact of the incident rather than pass it on to users. This figure refers to assets affected by the breach and does not represent net withdrawals recorded from the platform in the following hours. In an update dated October 30, Binance said it had allocated more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover losses, including $5 billion of the affected assets themselves. On November 1, it said it had covered about 95% of the affected amount, up from 90% in its previous update. It said the remaining 5% involved tokens outside the top 10 listed assets and with lower liquidity.
Alongside covering the losses, Binance said it had worked with blockchain network partners to freeze affected on-chain assets worth about $3 billion as of its October 29 update. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed the theft of virtual assets worth more than $6 billion to North Korea and said the group’s activity is known as TraderTraitor. The bureau said parties linked to the incident had converted the stolen assets primarily into ether and could continue laundering them through decentralized finance and instant-swap services. The Associated Press reported that North Korea on Tuesday denied involvement in the cryptocurrency theft, describing the U.S. announcement as a “vulgar provocation.” Binance’s estimates of affected assets, the asset freeze and the coverage rate remain separate measures from customer outflows from the platform.
Binance said the reopening of withdrawals for additional assets and networks would begin gradually on November 3 at 04:00 UTC, with security checks continuing. This follows a period of withdrawal restrictions after the incident, while the company said hourly flows had largely returned to normal. It also announced that the October 31 proof-of-reserves snapshot had become verifiable to users after the creation of a zero-knowledge proof. The company set November 4 as the date for a broader update covering more tokens. In the wider market, bitcoin fell 3.2% to below $79,000 on the evening of Thursday, October 29, after the initial announcement of the incident, according to the Associated Press. On November 3, Teng said a subsequent report on the incident would be released in due course.