Binance after reopening: $3.64 billion in net outflows, 2.1 percent of reserves

Binance has weathered the first rush after reopening withdrawals. In the first nine and a half hours or so from 6 a.m. UTC (7 a.m. German time) on Sunday, November 1, customers withdrew $4.65 billion and deposited $1.01 billion, according to the exchange. On balance, $3.64 billion left the platform. Measured against the $171 billion that Binance reported in its proof of reserves of October 28, that is 2.1 percent, as CNBC reported, citing Binance.

For you as a Binance customer in Germany, this means for now: the exchange is paying out on the networks that have been reopened, and on the figures known so far an outflow of this size does not put it under pressure. The full proof of reserves is still outstanding. Binance has announced it for Tuesday, November 3. Only then can it be checked whether balances are in fact backed one to one after the attack of October 29.

Binance net outflow: $4.65 billion out, $1.01 billion in

A net outflow is the difference between all withdrawals and all deposits at an exchange over a given period. It shows how much customer money has left on balance and is therefore more telling than the sum of withdrawals alone. At Binance the ratio in the first window was a little over four to one: for every dollar deposited, about $4.60 went out.

According to CNBC, the window runs from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. UTC on November 1. Binance said, according to the report, that withdrawals had declined and stabilised after an initial spike, while deposits had remained "substantial". Binance founder Changpeng Zhao wrote on X that most of the net outflows had occurred in the first few hours after the reopening. He added the line "98% choose to stay!" The figure is his own reading of the 2.1 percent and not a separately measured value.

The context helps. Withdrawals had been frozen for about 45 hours after the hack. Some of those who could not get at their money during that time wanted to see it straight away. An outflow in the first hours is therefore to be expected and is not in itself a verdict on trust. More telling is whether it ebbs or persists over the following days.

Outflow figures compared: Binance, DefiLlama and CoinDesk count differently

Anyone following the Binance news is currently seeing three very different numbers. They do not contradict each other; they measure different things:

• $3.64 billion: the net outflow according to Binance's own books, over about nine and a half hours.
• $4.05 billion: the net outflow over 24 hours according to the data service DefiLlama, as of 11:37 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, as The Block reports. DefiLlama tracks $131.1 billion in known Binance wallets.
• More than $6 billion: the total of all tokens that, according to CoinDesk, left wallets attributed to Binance within 24 hours. This includes transfers between the exchange's own wallets, so it is a gross figure. CoinDesk puts it at about 3.6 percent of the $171 billion.

The reliable range for actual customer outflows on day one is therefore between $3.64 billion and just over $4 billion. The $6 billion figure makes for headlines but says the least about customer behaviour.

Part of the money ended up with competitors. According to The Block, DefiLlama counted combined net inflows of about $368 million at the ten next-largest exchanges it tracks, of which $316.8 million went to OKX. CoinDesk puts the figure for OKX at about $450 million and for Bybit at about $134 million. Here too, the aggregate data does not show how much came directly from Binance customers. Most of the billions withdrawn apparently went to customers' own wallets or to providers that DefiLlama does not track.

Bitcoin holdings at Binance: down 19,289 BTC in 24 hours

The movement is clearest in the largest coin. According to CoinGlass data cited by The Block, the bitcoin balance on Binance addresses fell by about 19,289 BTC within 24 hours. Coinbase recorded an increase of about 984 BTC over the same period, Kraken about 1,422 BTC. A large share of the bitcoin withdrawn therefore did not go to another major exchange.

That fits a pattern seen after every major exchange incident: some customers move their coins into self-custody. Self-custody means holding the private keys to your coins yourself, for example on a hardware wallet, rather than entrusting them to an exchange. Our hardware wallet comparison shows which devices are suitable and what they cost. For investors who hold their bitcoin for the long term, this is the safest form of storage regardless of Binance, because a hack at the exchange does not touch coins in your own wallet.

Phase one of Binance withdrawals: 15 networks open, hundreds of coins still blocked

The reopening is happening in phases. From 6 a.m. UTC Binance first opened 15 networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, the XRP Ledger and the main networks for the stablecoins USDT and USDC. By 12:36 p.m. UTC all 15 networks in this first phase were available again, according to the exchange. The individual networks are listed in our overview of the reopening.

For many customers the matter is not yet settled. According to The Block, Binance's status page at 11:22 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday still showed withdrawals blocked for 531 of 552 listed coins, with 14 partially reopened. Binance is still testing the remaining networks, among them Cardano, Chainlink, Hyperliquid, Litecoin and NEAR. The exchange has not yet published a date for the next phase.

If you hold coins outside the first phase, you have two options. You can wait for your network to reopen, or you can swap on Binance into a coin that can already be withdrawn. The second route has a catch that German investors often overlook: swapping one crypto asset for another counts as a disposal for tax purposes. If you bought less than a year ago, any gain is taxable, and the holding period starts again for the new coin.

Reimbursing the hack loot: 95 percent replaced, Circle freezes $1.1 billion in USDC

The rush stems from the attack of October 29, in which about $6.3 billion flowed out of the hot wallets, according to the exchange. Hot wallets are an exchange's permanently internet-connected wallets through which it processes withdrawals. The FBI attributes the theft to the North Korean group TraderTraitor.

Binance says it had replaced about 95 percent of the affected amount by November 1, up from 90 percent in the previous update. The remainder concerns less liquid tokens that can only be bought slowly in sufficient quantity on the market. According to CNBC, the exchange is bearing the losses itself and not passing them on to customers.

Part of the loot has also been frozen. Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has blocked more than $1.1 billion in USDC linked to the incident, according to CNBC. On Friday Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire had still spoken of more than $800 million. The attacker can no longer move frozen stablecoins.

Proof of reserves with a zero-knowledge proof: Binance names Tuesday as the date

Binance has yet to deliver the real test. In its announcement on the recovery, the exchange says the full proof of reserves is expected by Tuesday, November 3 (UTC). It is based on a snapshot of holdings at midnight UTC on October 31. Co-CEO Richard Teng had originally named Monday. Binance attributes the delay to the computing effort: generating the proof takes about 40 to 50 hours.

A zero-knowledge proof is a cryptographic method that can verify a statement without disclosing the underlying data. For a proof of reserves this means Binance can show that the sum of all customer balances is covered by its own holdings without publishing individual account balances. Each customer can also check whether their own balance is included in the calculation.

One point matters for context: such a proof applies to a reference date. It shows whether there was enough on October 31 and says nothing about liabilities beyond customer balances. We explain in detail how to find your own balance in the proof and where its limits lie in Binance proof of reserves.

Prices after the Binance outflow: bitcoin at $77,714, BNB at $703.60

The outflow has left barely a mark on the market. Bitcoin traded at $77,714 on the afternoon of Monday, November 2, 0.16 percent below its level 24 hours earlier. BNB, the exchange's token, stood at $703.60, down 1.31 percent. All prices according to CoinGecko data.

BNB is the asset in which confidence in Binance can be read most directly. Many investors read a decline of 1.31 percent after an outflow of several billion dollars as a sign that the market considers the numbers manageable. That is no guarantee for the coming days: if Tuesday's proof of reserves brings a surprise, many traders expect it to show up first in the BNB price.

Withdrawing to your own wallet: network, test amount and tax

If you want to pull balances off Binance now, keep three points in mind. First, the network: many coins can be withdrawn over several blockchains, USDT for example over Ethereum, Tron or BNB Smart Chain. The receiving address must match the chosen network, or the payment is usually lost. A small test amount is worthwhile for the first withdrawal to a new address.

Second, authenticity: after major incidents, fake emails and websites circulate that lure users with a quick withdrawal or supposed compensation. Check the status of the networks only in the app or directly on binance.com, never via a link in a message.

Finally, tax, and here the situation for German investors is relaxed. Transferring coins to your own wallet is not a sale. No tax is due, and the one-year holding period keeps running. What matters is that you can document the coins' path later. So download your full transaction history from Binance before moving. A crypto tax tool then merges exchange and wallet and records the purchase dates for the holding period.

MiCA licence and switching exchanges: what matters when you move

Some customers will take the incident as a reason to switch exchanges. For investors in Germany, a licence under the EU's MiCA regulation is the most important criterion. MiCA stands for Markets in Crypto-Assets and has governed since the end of 2024 which providers may offer crypto services in the EU. Whether a provider is licensed is shown in the public register of the European Securities and Markets Authority, ESMA, where you can check before opening any account.

A MiCA licence does not protect against a hack. It does, however, oblige the provider to keep customer funds segregated, to meet capital requirements and to be subject to a supervisor you can turn to in a dispute. Our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges shows which exchanges operate in Germany with a licence and what they cost.

If you switch, your holding periods come with you as long as you transfer coins rather than sell them. If instead you sell on Binance and reinvest the money on the new exchange, the period restarts and any gain is taxed. Especially for bitcoin that has been in the portfolio for almost a year, this difference can amount to a lot of money.

Binance outflow: Tuesday's proof of reserves will show whether the backing holds

The weekend's figures so far point to an exchange that can absorb a rush. $3.64 billion in net outflows is a lot of money, but it is 2.1 percent of the most recently reported reserves. Nothing has been decided yet. The full proof of reserves on Tuesday will be decisive, and until then three steps make sense:

1. Review self-custody: coins you hold for the long term belong in your own wallet. Our comparison of hardware wallets gives an overview of suitable devices.
2. Check the licence before switching: if you want to change exchanges, choose a provider with a MiCA licence. The comparison of regulated crypto exchanges shows fees and offering.
3. Secure your records: export your Binance history before you move and merge it with a crypto tax tool so the holding period remains provable.

(As of November 2, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)