$6.34 billion was stolen, and 98% was replenished in six days. Let me be honest: I’m impressed by the speed, but what impresses me is the size of the wallet, not the security.
Binance said it itself in Recovery Update #7: 98% has been replenished. It was still 95% on November 2. The remaining 2% is made up of small, illiquid coins that need to be gradually bought back on the market and through OTC channels. Proof of Reserves has also expanded from 10 coins to 44. The snapshot was taken at midnight on November 4, and the zero-knowledge proof will take another 50 to 60 hours to produce.
People on the forum are already popping champagne: covering the losses out of its own pocket, so users don’t lose a cent—that’s what a major exchange should look like. I admit it: another exchange couldn’t possibly fill a $6.34 billion hole.
But I still have to pour a little cold water on this: replenishing the funds quickly doesn’t mean nothing went wrong. How was the money lost? Fake job interviews, a Trojan, a hacked AI tool—the breach was a management failure, not a natural disaster. The money has been replenished, but trust won’t be restored nearly as quickly. Until the PoR proof is released, “fully backed by 44 coins” is still just a promise.
My position: I give Binance credit for replenishing the funds; it clearly has the resources to cover the losses. But I don’t buy “everything is fine now.” Let’s wait for the PoR proof and see real results from the security improvements before saying that.
What about you—does the 98% figure put you at ease, or make you want to ask even more which coins make up that remaining 2%?
Binance said it itself in Recovery Update #7: 98% has been replenished. It was still 95% on November 2. The remaining 2% is made up of small, illiquid coins that need to be gradually bought back on the market and through OTC channels. Proof of Reserves has also expanded from 10 coins to 44. The snapshot was taken at midnight on November 4, and the zero-knowledge proof will take another 50 to 60 hours to produce.
People on the forum are already popping champagne: covering the losses out of its own pocket, so users don’t lose a cent—that’s what a major exchange should look like. I admit it: another exchange couldn’t possibly fill a $6.34 billion hole.
But I still have to pour a little cold water on this: replenishing the funds quickly doesn’t mean nothing went wrong. How was the money lost? Fake job interviews, a Trojan, a hacked AI tool—the breach was a management failure, not a natural disaster. The money has been replenished, but trust won’t be restored nearly as quickly. Until the PoR proof is released, “fully backed by 44 coins” is still just a promise.
My position: I give Binance credit for replenishing the funds; it clearly has the resources to cover the losses. But I don’t buy “everything is fine now.” Let’s wait for the PoR proof and see real results from the security improvements before saying that.
What about you—does the 98% figure put you at ease, or make you want to ask even more which coins make up that remaining 2%?
