Binance customers withdrew $3.64 billion more than they deposited on the platform during nine and a half hours on Sunday, after the cryptocurrency exchange partially resumed withdrawals following a .3 billion hack. The movement was viewed as an initial test of investor confidence.
According to Binance, the net outflow represented 2.1% of the assets held on the platform, a proportion analysts considered relatively low. The company said it recorded approximately $4.6 billion in withdrawals and $1 billion in deposits on Sunday, adding that withdrawals had declined and were beginning to stabilize after an initial spike.
The attack has not triggered a broad loss of confidence among investors, although analysts said it could make large investors more cautious and intensify concerns about security in the digital-asset market. Tim Sun, a senior researcher at Hong Kong-based digital-asset services company HashKey Group, said the incident had not led to generalized panic or a massive, concentrated withdrawal.
Binance co-CEO Yi He said the company’s priority was to ensure the platform was secure before users could withdraw their funds and the exchange could fully resume operations. Binance said it would cover the losses and had assembled $6 billion from company cash, an insurance fund and a reserve for security incidents.
Investors interviewed by Reuters said they intended to keep their accounts at Binance despite the attack. Jay Koh, vice president of the Singapore-based Asia Web3 AI Association, said centralized exchanges continued to play an important role in liquidity, trading and market access. Binance customer Ryan Tan said he was not in a hurry to withdraw his funds, noting that he had kept a relatively small balance on exchanges since the collapse of FTX four years ago.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies stabilized as trading volumes increased. Bitcoin, which had reached a six-week low on Friday, recovered over the weekend and traded above $78,000 on Monday. Ether also recovered after reaching its lowest price in two months.
The total market value of stablecoins, which are generally linked to traditional currencies such as the US dollar, has fallen since Friday. The decline may indicate that some investors are leaving the cryptocurrency market for cash or traditional investments.
Binance said it had resumed bitcoin withdrawals through the cryptocurrency’s own network, as well as ether and some dollar-linked stablecoins through the Ethereum network. The exchange’s website still showed restrictions on withdrawals of most cryptocurrencies.
Sources: G1.