CZ calls for crypto unity after Binance breach

What happened

Changpeng Zhao, the former chief executive of Binance, used a social media post to argue that the crypto industry needs greater cohesion, according to U.Today. He said digital assets generally move in the same direction, even if the size of their moves differs, and that problems at one project or platform can affect the wider market. He concluded that infighting in the sector does not make sense and called for the industry to be "decentralized but united."

The U.Today report said Zhao was responding to a post that compared the market impact of past exchange crises. That discussion referred to the 2022 FTX collapse, the 2024 WazirX hack and a recent security breach at Bitget, as well as the reported Binance hack on Oct. 29. The Binance incident involved attackers entering the exchange's internal wallet signing infrastructure, and the report said Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Solana were among the assets affected.

Binance has said it will cover the losses rather than pass them to customers. In a Nov. 3 update cited by U.Today, the exchange said about $2.85 billion of the stolen funds had been frozen or intercepted and that 98% of affected token assets had been replenished. The report did not provide a full accounting of the remaining funds or a timeline for any further recovery.

Why it matters

Zhao's intervention places market correlation and industry coordination at the center of the response to a major security failure. The U.Today report framed his comments as relevant because the sector is dealing with one of the largest breaches in recent memory. The post did not set out specific policy proposals; it argued that in-fighting makes little sense because crypto assets share exposure to the same market shocks.

The report also noted that Zhao has recently commented on several security issues. He advised users to revoke API keys for the third-party trading platform SignalPlus after reports of a possible breach, warned about fake Trust Wallet websites that use ".cam" instead of ".com", and urged iPhone users to update their operating systems because of vulnerabilities that could affect crypto holders.

What the data shows

The U.Today report cited a $6.34 billion hack on Oct. 29. Binance's Nov. 3 update said roughly $2.85 billion had been frozen or intercepted and 98% of affected token assets had been replenished. The report named Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Solana as affected assets. It also referenced FTX in 2022, WazirX in 2024 and a recent Bitget breach as examples in the social media discussion that prompted Zhao's post.

Background

The unity call came as other exchanges explained their own security arrangements. NewsBTC reported that Coinbase published a Nov. 4 security explanation saying it was not affected by the reported Binance hot-wallet incident and that more than 99% of customer assets are held in cold storage. Coinbase also described distributed signing keys, withdrawal limits, anomaly detection and emergency controls capable of stopping transaction signing.

The NewsBTC report noted that cold storage can reduce exposure if a hot wallet or application layer is compromised, while hot wallets remain necessary for normal withdrawals. It said such disclosures offer a way for customers to assess custody design beyond a single percentage, and that controls still need to be assessed over time against audits, incident disclosures and operational performance.

What is still unclear

The reports leave several questions open. U.Today did not say how much of the $6.34 billion remains unrecovered, what the final customer impact will be, or what the remaining 2% of affected token assets comprises. The report also did not detail the status of investigations into the Oct. 29 incident. NewsBTC's account of Coinbase's controls did not provide independent verification of the 99% cold-storage figure.

What to watch

Further updates from Binance on recovery and reimbursements will be relevant, as will any details from investigators about the wallet-signing compromise. The U.Today report also points to continuing security warnings around third-party trading tools and phishing domains. The NewsBTC report suggests customers will be watching how custodians explain access controls, withdrawal approvals and incident procedures. No timetable for those developments was given in the reports.

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