Binancesays it will cover all losses from Thursday's $6.3 billion breach "from the SAFU fund and the company's funds." It announced Friday that it has already reserved $6.34 billion in compan
Binancesays it will cover all losses from Thursday's $6.3 billion breach "from the SAFU fund and the company's funds."
It announced Friday that it has already reserved $6.34 billion in company money to make users whole.
The emergency fund behind that promise, the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), holds 15,000 bitcoin in a single public wallet as of Friday morning, blockchain data from mempool.space shows.
At Friday morning's bitcoin price near $77,700, that is about $1.17 billion, less than a fifth of the estimated impact.
Binance's own FAQ, last updated Feb. 2, describes the fund as "approximately US$1 billion."
Exclusive: Binance CMO says crypto will be “omnipresent” (4:27)Binance created SAFU in 2018, funding it with a percentage of trading fees.
The name traces to founder Changpeng Zhao's "funds are safe" reassurance and the "Funds Are Safu" meme that followed.
Today the fund is held and managed by Nest Clearing and Custody Limited, a clearing house regulated by Abu Dhabi Global Market's (ADGM) Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA).
The same FAQ says "a portion of these funds are used as capital reserves as part of Binance's regulatory obligations" in ADGM.
It does not say how large that portion is.
Binance FAQ says "a portion of these funds are used as capital reserves as part of Binance's regulatory obligations" in ADGM but doesn't reveal how large that portion is. Source: Binance FAQ; captured Oct. 30, 2026.
Binance also "retains full discretion" over which losses and claims qualify, and can change the fund's intended use at any time.
Claims must be filed with Binance Support within 90 days of the loss.
If the fund's market value falls below $800 million due to BTC price fluctuations, Binance says it will rebalance it back to $1 billion.
Binance's FAQ gives it discretion over SAFU claims, sets a 90-day claims window and describes an $800 million rebalancing trigger. Source: Binance FAQ; captured Oct. 30, 2026.
The bitcoin wallet Binance publishes held 15,000 BTC as of 9:19 a.m. ET Friday, per mempool.space - about $1.17 billion.
That balance is what is visible on-chain, not proof of what Binance can deploy at once.
The second published wallet, for USDC, holds about $2, Ethereum blockchain data shows. It is effectively empty.
How much of the fund is immediately deployable is not disclosed.
The FAQ's regulatory-capital language means an unknown slice of SAFU may be committed to Binance's ADGM license.
Binance has not said whether deploying it requires approval.
The FSRA said Friday it is aware of the incident and is "engaging closely with Binance and monitoring."
"User funds are safe!" Zhao posted at 5:15 p.m. ET Thursday.
"It does look like a hack on Binance. Appreciate the quick freeze from Tether (~$971m) and Circle (~$823m)."
"I don't manage Binance (.com) anymore, but as a shareholder, I expect all user funds will be fully covered."
On Friday morning he offered his own accounting: "$6.x b hack, $3b frozen, $1.x b SAFU fund."
"Gap is about $2b, we have $1.x billion in SPCX alone. Remaining gap is (still painful, but) manageable."
SPCX refers to Zhao's stake in Elon Musk's SpaceX.
His math treats SAFU as separate from company funds and puts the fund at "$1.x" billion, nowhere near the $6.34 billion Binance says it has reserved.
Zhao called Tether's freeze a "life saver" and thanked Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire for Circle's action in separate posts.
Changpeng Zhao delivers a speech at the opening event of Europe's largest tech conferenceOf the $6.34 billion reserved, Binance says $5 billion is already held in the exact tokens that were stolen.
It is buying the rest through market and over-the-counter channels, warning that low-liquidity tokens "can take longer."
Binance says roughly $3 billion of the affected assets have been frozen on-chain.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the issuer froze more than 1.567 billion USDT. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said it froze more than 800 million USDC.
Binance says the frozen assets remain subject to ongoing recovery and verification, and are not included in its company-funds pledge.
Withdrawals remain paused. Binance said at 4:47 a.m. ET Friday it was "still on track towards the expected timeline to resume the withdrawal service in 45 hours."
Forty-five hours from that post lands at 1:47 a.m. ET Sunday, shortly before clocks fall back. The estimate is Binance's own, revised from 48 hours earlier that morning. Deposits are unaffected.
Binance will publish an updated Proof of Reserves once remediation is complete, its announcement said.
The first test of the promise comes early Sunday, when Binance expects withdrawals to resume.
The numbers in this story are preliminary and could change as Binance and outside investigators release more findings, including any post-mortem report.
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