In July 2018, Binance set up an emergency fund called the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) “to protect user assets in extreme cases, such as security breaches or platform-level incidents”. That is, it created a fund for exactly this kind of incident. File image for representation only
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The story so far: Early morning on October 29, many customers at Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, began receiving messages that their accounts were being unexpectedly emptied. What followed, over the course of just about 20 minutes, was the biggest crypto hack in history, with more than $6 billion worth being stolen. By November 2, Binance had replaced 100% of the stolen amount to customers. The search for the culprit and recovery process still continues, but the customer impact has been mitigated in a remarkably short time.
Cryptocurrency transactions involve a multi-rung authentication involving public keys as well as private keys that are held by each user. According to Binance, a preliminary investigation points to a “compromised” laptop belonging to one of its engineers that could have allowed the hacker to submit unauthorised withdrawal transactions.
Published – November 03, 2026 12:49 pm IST
