Binance reopens as $2 billion moves to unknown wallets

Crypto tracker Whale Alert flagged approximately $2 billion in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and dollar-pegged stablecoins leaving Binance within three hours of the exchange reopening withdrawals on Sunday. The movement occurred shortly after Binance resumed operations following a hack on October 29 that resulted in the theft of about $6.3 billion in assets.

Asset Breakdown and Wallet Status

Whale Alert posts detailed the specific assets involved in the initial outflow. The tracker recorded 10,000 BTC, valued at approximately $779 million, moving from the exchange. Additionally, nearly $1 billion in Tether (USDT) and $200 million in USD Coin (USDC) were transferred. The data also showed 30,000 ETH, worth about $68 million, leaving the platform. One specific Whale Alert post highlighted a transfer of 100,000,000 USDC, valued at $100,037,106, sent to an unknown wallet.

Binance stated on Sunday that it had added newly generated addresses to its proof-of-reserves list, a public set of wallets designated to hold customer assets. The exchange confirmed that all future withdrawals will be paid from these new wallets. However, Binance has not publicly matched each individual transfer to the new addresses. The company maintains that it has replaced about 95% of the stolen assets.

Market Reaction and Reopening Phases

The reopening did not trigger the price surge some observers had anticipated. Late Friday, about 34 hours before the withdrawal service resumed, crypto commentator Ted Pillows told followers that the restart would cause a “Sunday pump.” As of the latest data, Bitcoin had seen a modest 1.05% uptick in the last 24 hours, trading at $78,122. This price remains below the $79,000 level lost on the day of the hack. Investors also pulled $643 million from Bitcoin ETFs one day after the incident.

The current reopening is limited to phase one, which covers 15 networks. Binance co-founder Yi He indicated that other wallets still face security audits, and there is no firm date for their reopening. In the interim, Binance has set aside more than $6.34 billion of its own funds to cover the losses from the hack.

Market analysts remain divided on the implications of the event. Analyst Charles Edwards stated he owns no Bitcoin following the hack, a stance pushed back on by Giovanni Santostasi and Benjamin Cowen. For context, when Bybit lost about $1.5 billion in February 2025, Bitcoin fell about 3% and ETH dropped about 7% within hours, according to Kaiko data. Bybit cleared its withdrawal queue in about 12 hours, and Bitcoin later reached a record high of $126,080 in October 2025.