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$3.64B flees Binance on reopen, THORChain co-founder opposes coin freeze: Hodler’s Digest
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- DeepHorus
Binance reopened withdrawals across 15 blockchain networks after a $6.3 billion hack, with roughly $3.64 billion leaving. It processed about $4.65 billion in withdrawals and received $1 billion in deposits. Founder Changpeng Zhao said the first 12 hours produced only a 2.1% net outflow, adding, “98% choose to stay!”
The hack occurred Thursday when North Korea’s TraderTraitor group gained delegated wallet permissions through a compromised laptop. About 95% of stolen crypto has been replenished using reserves, insurance and 50% of Binance’s Secure Asset Fund for Users. Co-CEO Richard Teng rejected claims that one engineer or a single “one-click” action was responsible.
Elliptic estimated $2.84 billion, mostly USDC and USDT, was frozen on-chain, leaving hackers with $3.33 billion. The attacker borrowed about $44.6 million in ETH against stablecoins on Aave. The FBI blamed TraderTraitor, linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, and President Donald Trump said “we’ll talk to North Korea about it.”
Zhao thanked the Secret Service for acting quickly to track and freeze stolen funds. The FBI released related addresses and urged THORnode operators, instant exchanges, DeFi services and analytics firms to block transactions. THORChain founder JP Thor opposed the freeze request, arguing node operators should preserve decentralization and permissionlessness.
“If THORNodes decided to take the protocol offline then the experiment is over,” Thor said. Hackers have used THORChain for permissionless swaps, and RUNE jumped 13% on fee expectations. However, nine THORChain chains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron, are halted after automated systems paused the protocol on October 31.
Developer Chad Barraford said about 50 people operate the 100 THORChain nodes. With federal agencies involved, speculation is growing that node operators could face prosecution if they refuse to block addresses or halt the protocol. The standoff tests whether decentralized protocols can resist state demands after the largest crypto theft ever.
