coindesk.com
When alleged North Korean hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance, some of crypto’s biggest companies acted within hours to stop nearly half the money from vanishing forever. Tether, Circle, Ripple and World Liberty Financial froze billions of dollars in stolen tokens, drawing praise for their speedy action, but raising a question: Why doesn’t every hack victim get the same treatment?
Legal and industry experts largely supported the decision to freeze the assets. But they questioned whether the companies applied the same standards used in previous hacks or made an exception because of Binance's size and the scale of the theft. They also warned that freezing stolen funds is not the same as recovering them.
The debate follows Thursday's record $6.3 billion Binance hack, which blockchain investigators have linked to North Korean hackers. Tether froze more than $1.56 billion in $USDT, Circle blocked about $823 million in $USDC, while Ripple and World Liberty Financial also froze assets.
Read all of CoinDesk's coverage of the Binance hack here.
Binance said Friday that it had frozen roughly $3 billion and set aside more than $6.34 billion of its own reserves to cover customer losses.
For Anton Golub, head of exchange go-to-market at Forte and a former crypto exchange executive, the industry’s response was justified. His concern is whether smaller victims can expect the same help.
“I fully support freezing stolen crypto and I know they did it not just to help Binance, but to protect the entire crypto industry. But I see a double standard here,” Golub told CoinDesk. “When Binance gets hacked, the industry freezes nearly $3 billion within hours. When smaller players get hacked, we hear about court orders and legal restrictions. The rules should be the same for everyone.”
In April, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said his firm only freezes $USDC when directed by law enforcement or a court. Tether took a similar position in 2022, saying it would not freeze Tornado Cash addresses without instructions from law enforcement.
Following the Binance theft, Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, confirmed on X that his company had frozen more than 1.567 billion $USDT, saying “protecting the industry and our partners is our main priority.” His post did not say whether Tether had received instructions from law enforcement.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire also confirmed on X that, in coordination with law enforcement, the stablecoin issuer had frozen more than 800 million $USDC linked to Binance.
