Experts are split over the roughly $3 billion in asset freezes that followed the $6.3 billion Binance hack — the largest crypto theft on record, linked by blockchain investigators to North Korean hackers. While Tether, Circle, Ripple and World Liberty Financial acted within hours to freeze stolen tokens, legal and industry experts warn that freezing funds is not the same as recovering them.
Binance said Friday it has set aside more than $6.34 billion of its own reserves to cover customer losses, and that partners froze $3 billion in stolen assets. Withdrawals remain paused pending security checks.
(Credits: CoinDesk)
Binance Hack: Tether Froze $1.56B USDT, Circle $823M USDC
Tether froze more than $1.56 billion in USDT, CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed, while Circle blocked about $823 million in USDC. The freezes happened within minutes to hours of the theft, which saw assets drain from Binance hot wallets across ten blockchains in about 20 minutes on Thursday night.
Anton Golub, a former exchange executive now at Forte, supported the freezes but flagged a double standard: “When Binance gets hacked, the industry freezes nearly $3 billion within hours. When smaller players get hacked, we hear about court orders and legal restrictions. The rules should be the same for everyone.” CoinDesk notes Circle and Tether have previously said they only freeze at law enforcement direction.
Binance Hack Recovery: Why Frozen Does Not Mean Returned
Experts cautioned that bitcoin cannot be frozen at the network level, and that frozen stablecoins sit in wallets the attacker nominally still controls. Turning a freeze into a return requires the issuers’ willingness to reissue the tokens or a court order directing what happens to them.
Binance says user funds will be restored one-for-one from company money and its SAFU emergency reserve, with the full amount to be verified publicly through Proof of Reserves.
Also Read: Binance Hack Rattles Crypto as Intel Plunges 23% and AI Spending Fears Hit Tech Stocks
Also Read: US Sanctions Russian Nationals Accused of Laundering Millions in Crypto for North Korean IT Workers
Source: CoinDesk — read the full story there.
