How Binance has responded to the hack so far – a timelinepublished at 10:03 GMT
10:03 GMT
Jacob Phillips
Live reporter
Image source, Getty Images
Binance first announced that it was investigating a security issue on Thursday evening. By Friday morning the estimated impact had passed $6bn (£4.47bn).
We’ve pieced together a timeline based on what the crypto trader has said so far – here’s what to know:
Thursday
21:29 GMT Binance says it is “actively investigating” a potential security issue but reassures users that their funds are “completely safe”.
22:33 It says its team is conducting security checks and that withdrawals will resume “as soon as the security issue is fully resolved”. It repeats that user funds remain safe.
23:06 Trading on platform Binance Alpha is temporarily suspended.
23:22 Binance says it has frozen $2.54bn (£1.89bn) in assets and explains the figure may increase as it works closely with law enforcement, issuers, blockchain intelligence firms and industry partners.
Friday
00:13 Binance announces it will cover all loses and that as a precaution all deposits and withdrawals have been temporarily suspended.
00:52 Binance announces that the total frozen assets have risen to around $3bn (£2.24bn).
02:25 Binance says its initial investigation suggests the security incident may have involved a “compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop” which allowed the hackers to gain access and submit unauthorised transactions. It says the estimated impact is around $6.3bn (£4.7bn).
07:37 Richard Teng, Binance’s co-CEO, reassures users: “Your money is safe and we’re covering every loss.” He says the hack “was not a simple ‘one click’ action” but a “more complex attack process”. He says that the investigation has not “attributed responsibility to any individual”.
08:47 Binance says it has uncovered additional “points of breach” as well as the compromised laptop. It says it is on track towards resuming withdrawal services in 45 hours.