The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market said it is closely monitoring a major cyberattack on cryptocurrency exchange Binance, in which about $6.3 billion in digital assets was stolen, and is engaging with Binance officials. The incident is considered one of the largest thefts in the history of the cryptocurrency market.

In a statement issued on Friday, October 30, the regulator said it was aware of the security incident at Binance that resulted in unauthorised asset withdrawals and was monitoring developments.

The statement stressed that protecting customers’ interests and maintaining the integrity and orderly operation of financial markets are among the FSRA’s key priorities.

Although the regulator confirmed that it was monitoring the matter and working closely with Binance, it did not disclose further details about any potential regulatory action.

$6.3 Billion Stolen from Binance Wallets

According to an official Binance statement, the cyberattack occurred at about 8.05pm UTC on Thursday, October 29, equivalent to 12.05am UAE time on Friday, October 30, and targeted the exchange’s online wallets.

Preliminary findings indicate that the hackers may have gained access to parts of the company’s infrastructure by compromising the laptop of an engineer in Binance’s technical operations division, enabling them to initiate unauthorised withdrawal transactions.

However, Binance said subsequent investigations had identified other possible points of entry, while the exact cause of the attack remained under investigation. The company stressed that no evidence had so far been found that the private keys to its digital wallets had been compromised.

Reuters also reported that most of the stolen assets were transferred out of wallets used by Binance to process transactions within about 20 minutes.

Binance Pledges to Cover All Losses

In its latest statement, Binance said about $3 billion of the stolen assets had been frozen with the assistance of blockchain companies and digital asset issuers. However, freezing the assets does not necessarily mean they have been recovered or returned, and efforts to retrieve the funds are continuing.

The exchange also said it had allocated more than $6.34 billion of its own funds to cover losses resulting from the attack. Of this amount, about $5 billion was provided in the same digital assets affected by the incident, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and USDC.

Binance stressed that it would cover all losses arising from the incident through its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and its own financial resources, ensuring that customers do not bear the ultimate loss.

Status of Binance Services in the UAE

Following the incident, Binance temporarily suspended cryptocurrency withdrawals while security reviews and remedial measures were completed. However, according to a follow-up statement, deposit services and other unaffected parts of the platform remain operational.

Binance FZE, which provides the exchange’s services in Dubai, said in a separate statement that the segregated wallets holding its customers’ digital assets were not affected by the attack and that no customer losses had been confirmed.

The company said cryptocurrency withdrawals had been temporarily suspended as a precaution, but cryptocurrency trading, digital asset deposits, and fiat currency deposit and withdrawal services remained available.

Binance said it was working with law enforcement agencies and blockchain analytics companies to gradually restore withdrawal services, strengthen its security infrastructure and identify those responsible for the attack.

The exchange also plans to publish a comprehensive technical report on how the attack occurred and provide an updated report on its asset reserves by Monday, November 2.