Binance has covered about 90% of the cryptocurrency taken in a US$6.3 billion hack, buying back the tokens with its own funds, the exchange said on 31 October.
The figure refers to assets replenished by the exchange, rather than cryptocurrency recovered from the hackers.
Customer withdrawals had been suspended following the breach. In its Saturday update, Binance said it remained on track to reopen withdrawals on Sunday, 1 November, with further details to follow once confirmed.
Company Funds Used to Replace Stolen Tokens
Binance had set aside more than US$6.34 billion to cover the losses. Its previous update put the proportion of affected assets replenished at about 80%.
The replacement effort draws on its corporate treasury, part of its Futures insurance fund and a partial deployment of its Secure Asset Fund for Users, known as SAFU. SAFU is a fund Binance keeps aside as a safety net for users if something like a hack happens.
The exchange said the remaining 10% was made up of tokens that trade less often, so buying enough of them could take more time. It was working with industry partners and purchasing assets through markets and privately negotiated trades.
Binance said it would bear the financial losses rather than pass them on to users.
Reserve Verification Expected on 3 November
The exchange said 10 tokens, including bitcoin, ether, BNB and USDT, were fully backed by reserves.
It also took a new snapshot of platform assets at 8am Singapore time on 31 October as part of its proof-of-reserves process, which allows users to check the backing for their holdings.
The full cryptographic proof needed for independent verification was expected by Tuesday, 3 November, on a UTC basis. Binance said this would let holders of the 10 tokens verify backing of at least one unit in reserves for each unit held.
Recovery Efforts and Investigation Continue
In its 30 October update, Binance said the affected wallets had been compromised at about 4:05am Singapore time that day.
It said it had contained compromised infrastructure, revoked affected authorisations and added security controls. Withdrawals were paused while it reviewed systems and carried out remedial work.
Binance also said approximately US$3 billion in stolen assets had been frozen on the blockchain through work with law enforcement and industry partners. Recovering those assets remained a separate effort.
The investigation was continuing. Although initial findings suggested a compromised laptop may have been involved, Binance said investigators had subsequently identified additional breach points.
Its earlier plan was to restore withdrawals in phases, subject to security checks.
