The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, recorded a massive outflow of funds immediately after resuming withdrawal operations, which had been suspended due to a massive hacker attack. According to company data published on social network X, between 06:00 and 15:30 UTC on November 1, 2026, clients withdrew a total of $4.65 billion in crypto assets from the platform, while the volume of new deposits reached only $1.01 billion. The net outflow over these nine and a half hours reached $3.64 billion — about 2.1% of the exchange's total assets under management, which were estimated at approximately $171 billion as of October 28.

Timeline of Operations Recovery

The ability to withdraw funds from Binance returned in stages. The process began at 06:00 UTC on November 1. By 12:36 UTC, clients had gained access to operations across all 15 networks and assets included in the initial recovery phase. At that time, checking of other networks and cryptocurrencies was still ongoing. According to the exchange's own estimates, the peak load on the system occurred during the first hours after service resumption: subsequently, the number of withdrawal requests decreased, while the inflow of new deposits remained at a significant level, which, according to company representatives, indicated stabilization of the situation.

Changpeng Zhao's Commentary

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao commented on user behavior following the incident, stating that 98% of clients did not leave the platform. In his estimation, the bulk of the funds ultimately withdrawn from the exchange was taken in the first hours after the corresponding service was restored. Thus, the massive outflow recorded in the opening hours does not mean that a significant portion of the user base permanently abandoned the platform.

Circle Freezes Over $1.1B in USDC

Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, stepped in to counteract the aftermath of the attack. In a comment to CNBC, issuer representatives stated that the company deployed cyber incident response mechanisms and, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, blocked over $1.1 billion in USDC associated with the hacker attack. Earlier, on October 30, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire reported preliminary freezing results of over $800 million, indicating the investigation's expanding scope in the subsequent days.

Who Is Behind the Attack: FBI and White House Disagree

In late October 2026, Binance suffered a cyberattack in which attackers stole a total of $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency. The exchange promised to cover the losses independently and reported that about 95% of the lost assets had already been returned to users. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation blamed North Korean hackers for the attack, pointing to the withdrawal of more than six billion dollars from the platform. However, US President Donald Trump publicly denied the FBI's claim that the Binance cryptocurrency exchange was "robbed," creating a noticeable contradiction in the official stance of the American authorities regarding the classification of the incident.

Context and Scale

The Binance incident became one of the largest in the history of the cryptocurrency industry. The amount of stolen assets — $6.3 billion — significantly exceeds previous crypto exchange hack records. By comparison, the $3.64 billion net outflow recorded on November 1 accounts for only about 2.1% of the platform's total assets, which analysts believe demonstrates the preservation of basic user trust in the exchange's infrastructure even under extreme stress-testing conditions. Nevertheless, the very fact that nearly $4.7 billion was withdrawn from the platform in less than ten hours highlights the market's high sensitivity to any disruptions in the operation of the world's largest crypto platform.