Binance says Brazilian funds are safe after attack and reserves US$6.34 billion

Binance stated that the funds of its Brazilian clients are safe after a hacker attack that resulted in movements of around US$6.3 billion in portfolios associated with the broker, identified on Thursday (29), according to Exame. To cover possible losses, the company says it has reserved more than US$6.34 billion.

Of this total, US$5 billion is in the impacted tokens themselves, according to Money Times. InfoMoney classifies the case as the biggest cryptocurrency theft in history. As Exame points out that Binance is the largest crypto broker in the world in terms of trading volume, the episode gains repercussions that go beyond the crypto public.

As for authorship, analysts attribute the attack to North Korea, a country that denies involvement, according to Money Times. Times Brasil, citing CNBC and experts, reports that companies and authorities are trying to recover more than US$6 billion before the funds are hidden, while alleged North Korean hackers use mixing and laundering of resources.

In Brazil, users are served by BBrasil SPSAV LTDA, according to Money Times. The company claims to follow the segregation determined by the Central Bank and keep assets in cold wallets.

Tranquility has a limit. According to InfoMoney, the funds were considered safe, but withdrawals of virtual assets are temporarily suspended, with no date for resumption. In other words, the company maintains that custody is preserved, but access to virtual assets is currently interrupted.

What is at stake is trust in a platform with great weight in the market and the customer's ability to withdraw their resources whenever they want. The recovery of misappropriated amounts and the progress of investigations will be closely monitored by the sector.

What changes for the investor

The episode reinforces a central point for those who invest in cryptocurrencies: when holding assets in a brokerage, the investor depends on custody, account segregation and the liquidity of withdrawals from the platform. With withdrawals of virtual assets suspended and without a defined deadline, clients may not be able to move their positions at the desired time, which represents a concrete risk, regardless of the outcome regarding the amounts involved. New announcements from the company, the resumption of withdrawals and the progress of recoveries should guide the market's assessment in the coming weeks.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.