Binance Defends Swift Action Amid Claims of Limited Fund Freeze Post-Upbit Hack

Binance has strongly rejected claims from South Korean investigators that the exchange was slow to act or only partially complied with requests to freeze funds connected to last month’s $30 million Upbit hack.

Binance’s Defense:

• A spokesperson for Binance asserted that suggestions of a delayed or limited response are “unsubstantiated and inaccurate.”
• The exchange claims its security teams “immediately took action” to identify the incident, freeze related transfers, and mitigate further movement of funds.
• Binance emphasizes that it continues to work closely with law enforcement.

Authorities’ Allegations:

• South Korean investigators reportedly claimed that only about 17% of the assets flagged for freezing were ultimately locked down by Binance.
• Authorities allege that the hackers behind the November 27 breach moved quickly, dispersing stolen funds across over a thousand wallets within hours, complicating recovery efforts through methods like chain hopping and token swaps.
• Specifically, Upbit and police requested an immediate freeze on approximately $370,000 (470 million won) in Solana tokens that reached Binance. However, only about $75,000 (80 million won) was reportedly frozen, with Binance allegedly citing a need for additional verification.

Upbit’s Security Response:

• In response to the theft of $30 million from its Solana hot wallet, Upbit is dramatically enhancing security by moving nearly all customer assets (99%) into cold storage (offline wallets).
• This measure far exceeds South Korea’s legal requirement of 80% offline storage, effectively reducing its hot wallet exposure to zero.

Ongoing Investigation:

• South Korean authorities have launched an investigation, with early intelligence reports allegedly connecting the intrusion to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.