Binance working with FBI to recover assets following $6.3B hack
Quick Look
- Binance is working with the FBI to recover funds following a $6.3 billion exploit.
- The exchange has frozen $3 billion in stolen assets and set aside over $6.34 billion in company funds to cover losses for affected users.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The US Department of Justice previously collaborated with the FBI in 2022 to seize $3.6 billion in Bitcoin linked to the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
Binance is working with the FBI to help recover some of the funds stolen in the record $6.3 billion exploit, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Cointelegraph contacted the FBI for more details about the collaboration but had not received a response by the time of publication.
The cryptocurrency exchange revealed its cooperation with law enforcement in a Friday X post, without specifying the agencies involved.
Binance said $3 billion of the stolen funds had already been frozen by industry partners and that it is working with law enforcement to recover them. The exchange said it had reserved more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the losses, $5 billion of which was already held in the exact tokens that were stolen.
Binance ranks as the largest cryptocurrency exchange by reserves with $134 billion in total assets. It had processed about $6 billion in outflows during the past 24 hours, according to DefiLlama.
In February 2022, the US Department of Justice said law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, helped seize 94,000 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at $3.6 billion at the time, which were linked to the 2016 Bitfinex exchange hack.
Open Questions
- Which specific agencies are involved in the recovery?
- What is the timeline for fund restoration to users?
