Binance Slashes SAFU Bitcoin Reserve by 50% After $6.3B Hack Hits Exchange

• Binance cut its SAFU Bitcoin holdings in half after a $6.3 billion hack attributed to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group.
• 95% of user balances restored; exchange publishes updated proof-of-reserves for transparency.

On November 3, 2026 (UTC), Cointelegraph reported that Binance transferred nearly half its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) bitcoin holdings after losing $6.3 billion in user assets to a hack linked to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group. The measure reduced its SAFU wallet from approximately 15,000 BTC to 7,500 BTC, Cointelegraph confirmed.

This deployment marked the largest ever from Binance’s SAFU fund, the emergency pool created for user protection. Binance’s bitcoin reserve now stands at about $582 million. As per company policy, Binance is not required to immediately replenish the SAFU reserve after a hack; rebalancing is only triggered if the fund’s value dips below $800 million from market fluctuations.

Following the breach, Binance temporarily paused withdrawals and began reopening them in phases starting November 2. The company reported that 95% of customer balances had already been restored, with the remaining amounts delayed due to illiquid altcoin holdings, according to Binance’s official Twitter channel.

To replace lost funds, Binance combined resources from SAFU, its corporate treasury, and its futures insurance fund. Around $3 billion of the stolen assets were reportedly frozen after coordinated efforts with law enforcement and blockchain analytics firms. The FBI and Chainalysis attributed the theft to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group, as reported by Hindustan Times.

Binance released a new proof-of-reserves snapshot to confirm 1:1 backing of its top ten crypto assets, including Bitcoin, and announced plans to publish further snapshots for less-liquid assets. Users were invited to cryptographically verify these figures as a demonstration of ongoing solvency.

Bitcoin’s market price briefly fell below $77,000 after Binance resumed withdrawals, while net outflows from the exchange exceeded $3.6 billion, according to TheStreet Crypto. The price rebounded above $78,000 as Binance’s remediation steps and transparency measures continued.

As of November 3, 2026, 01:10 UTC, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $77,086.22, down 1.53% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.