Arbitrum Seizes $30M From Binance Hacker — No Key Needed
By @sharedot · · 6 pages
- Crypto
- Arbitrum
- Binance Hack
- Defi Security
Arbitrum's Security Council seized $30M from the Binance hack by rewriting a smart contract, moving funds without the attacker's key.
A wallet drained without its private key
Arbitrum, the Ethereum layer-2 network, says it recovered roughly $30 million in cryptocurrency tied to the record Binance hack.
According to CoinDesk reporting carried by Bloomingbit, on October 30 Arbitrum's Security Council moved more than 8,425 Ether and 74 million ARB tokens from a wallet linked to the Binance attacker into a separate custody address.
The striking part: the transfer was completed without the hacker's private key or signature. The council temporarily modified the code of the network's "Inbox" smart contract to enable the move from the attacker's wallet, then restored the original code once the funds were secured.
The centralization debate this reopens
This is the development crypto natives will argue about for weeks. CoinDesk reported that the operation could fuel a debate over centralization, because operators of a supposedly decentralized network were able to move funds out of a specific wallet without the private key controlling it.
Arbitrum's Security Council has 12 members, and in an emergency it can change the network's smart contracts when nine of them agree.
Safeguards, and where the funds go next
The Security Council says the intervention did not affect other users' assets or applications on the network.
The recovered funds cannot simply be spent: Arbitrum says they can be moved only through a governance vote by the Arbitrum decentralized autonomous organization, giving the DAO the final say over what happens to the $30 million.
The technical rescue lands amid Binance's own recovery efforts — the exchange says it has covered around 95% of the assets stolen in the breach and would cover all losses linked to the attack.
The hack, the denial, and the stakes
The recovery comes against the backdrop of the largest crypto hack in history.
The FBI, the Secret Service and blockchain analysts have said the $6.3 billion Binance breach was orchestrated by North Korea's state-backed TraderTraitor group, also known as the Lazarus Group — the same unit blamed for the then-record $1.5 billion Bybit hack in 2025.
Pyongyang denies it: Kim Yo Jong called the accusations "absurd rhetoric" and a "grave political provocation" by the US, according to the BBC.
Meanwhile, Bloomingbit reports Binance has seen a net $4.72 billion withdrawn since trading resumed on Sunday — a figure its spokesperson called a relatively limited portion of roughly $157 billion in total assets, with withdrawals "stabilising to what we would consider normal and expected on-chain activity."