Binance has begun buying back the cryptocurrencies stolen in its $6.3 billion security breach, using company reserves and market purchases. Chainalysis has linked the attack to North Korea's TraderTraitor group.
Binance says it has reserved more than $6.34 billion to cover the October 29 breach, including $5 billion already held in the same cryptocurrencies that attackers moved out of its wallets. The exchange is buying the remaining tokens through exchanges and over-the-counter (OTC) desks.
Some purchases could take longer because certain assets have limited liquidity, the company said. Privately negotiated OTC deals also require settlement.
Binance funds the buyback from its SAFU fund and holdings
Co-founder Yi He said the exchange is using its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and existing holdings to rebuild the affected balances. She named BTC and ETH among the reserves, but Binance has not disclosed how much of either it will sell.
The company plans to buy the stolen altcoins in fully matching amounts. It has not published individual repurchase amounts, execution prices or a breakdown of completed purchases. Binance also said its calculations exclude frozen or protected assets, and it reported $3 billion frozen through cooperation with token issuers, investigators and law enforcement.
Attacker sold UNI, PEPE and LINK for Ether
The repurchases follow sales by the attacker, who swapped several stolen tokens for Ethereum. Lookonchain identified the sale of 7.02 million UNI worth $39.63 million, along with 7.77 trillion PEPE for $31.66 million and 2.57 million LINK valued at $26.05 million. The seven reported sales produced 70,480 ETH worth $158.25 million at the time.
Chainalysis ties the attack to North Korea
In an October 30 report, Chainalysis attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean cybercrime group. The firm found that funds stolen from Binance and assets taken in September's Bitget exploit entered shared wallets.
According to the report, the attackers converted $325 million in stablecoins into $285 million in ETH over nearly 20 minutes. Some wallets receive exactly 1 TRX before processing more funds, a pattern the firm believes suggests automated laundering.
Thai partner Gulf offers liquidity support
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said Thai partner Gulf offered help, messaging that "know you can cover, but we are here if needed" according to Zhao. Binance said it will publish further recovery updates and later verify customer holdings through its Proof of Reserves reporting.
Source: crypto.news
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