The $6.3bn Binance Hack: Is Your Crypto Safe, and What Should UK Users Do?

If you hold crypto on Binance, the honest answer today is: probably fine, but only because Binance says so. Hackers took about $6.3bn (roughly £4.7bn) on 29 October, the largest crypto theft on record. Binance says it will absorb the loss itself and has started reopening withdrawals. As a UK user, though, there's no compensation scheme standing behind that promise.

Nobody has published how many UK customers are affected. Here's what's known as of Monday 2 November, and what it means for you depending on where your coins are.

What actually happened at Binance?

Attackers drained about $6.3bn from Binance's internet-connected hot wallets on 29 October, most of it in around 20 minutes. Binance paused withdrawals, the FBI has since blamed North Korea, and Binance says it has replaced about 95% of the missing assets using its own money.

Blockchain analysts at TRM Labs put the figure slightly higher, at $6.36bn across ten blockchains, including 18,270 bitcoin. That's about four times the $1.5bn Bybit hack of February 2025, the previous record.

The timeline so far:

• 29 October: The theft happens and Binance suspends withdrawals. It says the cause may be a compromised engineer's laptop, and that it's found no evidence of a private key leak.
• 31 October: Binance says about 90% of the assets are covered. The FBI names TraderTraitor, a North Korean state-sponsored unit.
• 1 November: Withdrawals restart in phases, beginning with the Bitcoin network. Co-CEO Richard Teng says about 95% has been replenished.
• 3 November: The date Binance has given for its full proof of reserves.

Binance's account of the cause has shifted a bit, by the way. Teng later called it a complex attack, and a full technical report is still to come. Treat any confident explanation you read on social media with some scepticism.

Is my crypto on Binance safe?

Binance says yes, and so far its actions match the words: it has set aside more than $6.34bn and is buying replacement tokens. But "covered" doesn't mean recovered. The hackers still hold billions, and the backing has come from Binance's own funds, not from a guarantee.

CNBC makes this distinction clearly, and it's the one most worth holding on to. The 95% figure is the share Binance has rebought or backed, not the share clawed back from the attacker. About $3bn has been frozen with help from token issuers such as Tether and Circle, Reuters reports. Another $2.4bn or so sits in bitcoin and ether, TRM says, and Insurance Business points out that no issuer can freeze those.

The money comes from three pots, per Reuters: the $1bn Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), part of its Futures Insurance Fund, and its corporate treasury. Binance says it will refill SAFU to about $1bn.

Is that reassuring? Partly. Binance reported about $162.8bn in customer assets in its 2025 annual report, so this is a serious hit rather than a fatal one, on its own numbers. Customers pulled about $3.64bn net after withdrawals reopened, roughly 2.1% of reported assets, which isn't a run. Our view is that the proof of reserves is the real test. Until it lands, and until someone other than Binance can check it, "user funds are safe" is a statement from the company with the most to lose.

What should you do, depending on your situation?

Your next step depends on what you hold and whether its network has reopened. Binance's ten largest assets are described as fully backed, while the remaining gap of about 5% sits in smaller tokens that take longer to buy. Check Binance's status from its official site or app, not from a link someone sent you.

Your situation	What it means	Sensible next step
Holding BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD or ZEC on Binance	Binance says these are 100% backed	Check the withdrawal status for your network, and download your account history
Holding a smaller altcoin on Binance	It may be in the remaining 5% or so	Expect a longer wait, and watch official updates for phase two
Your network hasn't reopened	Binance hasn't given a timetable for phase two	Don't pay anyone who offers to "release" it
You sold during the dip	That's a taxable disposal, even at a loss	Record the date, amount and sterling value
You've moved coins to your own wallet	Moving your own coins isn't a disposal by itself	Keep the transaction ID with your records
You're not on Binance at all	No direct effect, though prices did move	Check your own exchange is on the FCA's lists

On that last point, bitcoin hit a six-week low after the news, The Independent reported, trading around $77,876 on 30 October. Selling because of a headline is your call, but it does create a tax event.

If you decide to withdraw, do it slowly. Send a small test amount first and double-check the network. And if you're sending to a UK exchange, expect questions: our guide to proving source of funds covers what they'll ask for.

Does the FSCS or the FCA protect UK Binance users?

No. The FSCS says it can't protect you if a crypto platform goes out of business, and the FCA says you're unlikely to reach the Financial Ombudsman either. Binance isn't authorised in the UK, so a promise from Binance is the only protection you've got.

The FCA's consumer warning, last updated in June 2023, says no entity in the Binance Group holds any UK authorisation, registration or licence for regulated activity. Binance stopped taking new UK customers in October 2023, although existing accounts carried on trading. Reports in August said it was planning an application under the new UK regime; Binance doesn't comment on speculation about licences.

That regime starts on 25 October 2027, and the application window runs until 28 February 2027. It won't help anyone with this hack.

So if the promise ever failed, you'd be looking at a dispute with an offshore company, under whatever its terms say. Open those terms now and see which entity you've actually contracted with, since most people never look. Our guide to what happens if an exchange goes bust explains why that matters. Binance is already being taken to court here on a separate matter, incidentally: nearly 1,700 UK investors filed a High Court claim in June over derivatives, which it says it'll defend.

What does the hack mean for your UK tax?

If your balance hasn't changed, you probably have nothing to report. HMRC taxes disposals such as selling, swapping, spending or gifting crypto, and a hack on Binance's own wallets isn't something you did. Any sale you made in response, however, counts as normal.

We can't find any HMRC guidance on an exchange replacing stolen coins with its own money, so that part is our reading rather than an official position. Binance buying tokens on the market is Binance's transaction. It shouldn't be yours.

The harsher rule only applies if you actually lost out. HMRC says theft isn't a disposal, because you still own the asset and have a right to recover it. That means victims can't normally claim a capital loss. A negligible value claim is a separate route for tokens that become worthless, and because of pooling it applies to your whole holding of that token, not to individual coins. Neither page deals with an exchange hack directly, so talk to a tax adviser if you ever find yourself in that position.

Whatever happens, download your full transaction history now. HMRC expects you to keep your own records, and your gains calculation depends on them.

What scams should you expect after the Binance hack?

Expect fake compensation offers, fake Binance alerts and "recovery" firms. We haven't found any report of Binance asking customers to file a claim, so treat any claim form, verification link or refund portal as suspect, particularly if it mentions the hack.

We also haven't found a hack-specific warning from the FCA at the time of writing. But the pattern is an old one. The FCA describes recovery room scams as fraudsters approaching people who've had failed investments, offering to get the money back for an upfront fee. A record-breaking headline hands them a ready-made script.

Experts quoted by The Independent gave the dull advice that works: use a unique password, use an authenticator app rather than text messages for two-factor login, and be suspicious of unexpected messages. We'd add one more. No genuine support agent needs your seed phrase, ever.

If something looks wrong:

• Forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk.
• Forward suspicious texts to 7726, which is free.
• If you've lost money in England or Wales, call Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040. Elsewhere in the UK, call the police on 101.

Our UK crypto scams guide has more examples.

Frequently asked questions

Has Binance been hacked? Yes. About $6.3bn was taken from Binance's hot wallets on 29 October 2026, the largest crypto theft on record. The FBI has attributed it to North Korea's TraderTraitor unit. Binance says it will cover the losses itself and has reopened withdrawals in phases since 1 November.

Can UK users withdraw from Binance? Withdrawals restarted in phases on 1 November, beginning with the Bitcoin network and then others including Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain. Binance hasn't given a timetable for the remaining networks. Check the current status in your Binance app or on its official site, because it's changing quickly.

Will Binance refund UK customers? Binance says it will absorb the financial impact so users don't bear it, and we've found no claim process for customers to complete. That's a company promise, not a legal guarantee from a UK scheme. Be very wary of anyone asking you to apply for a refund.

Is crypto on Binance covered by the FSCS? No. The FSCS says it can't protect you if a platform that holds or exchanges crypto goes out of business, and the FCA's warning says no Binance entity is authorised in the UK. You're also unlikely to be able to take a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Do I pay tax because of the Binance hack? Not simply because the hack happened. If your balance is unchanged, you haven't disposed of anything. Selling or swapping in response is a normal disposal for Capital Gains Tax. Moving coins to your own wallet isn't a disposal by itself, but keep records of each transfer.

The practical next step

Log in by typing Binance's address yourself, download your full history, and note exactly what you hold and on which network. Then look for the proof of reserves due by 3 November. If you're keeping long-term coins on any exchange, this is a good week to ask whether holding them in your own wallet suits you better. This is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice, and crypto is high risk: you could lose everything you put in.