Binance’s Delayed Response After Hack

Binance is facing strong criticism in South Korea following revelations about its response to a hack involving the Upbit exchange. According to police reports, Binance was asked to freeze approximately 470 million South Korean won worth of stolen Solana tokens. Ultimately, however, the exchange blocked only about 80 million won — roughly 17 percent of the total amount.

The issue was not only the limited scope of the freeze but also the delayed reaction. The funds were frozen nearly 15 hours after the police request was made. Experts believe this delay gave the attackers enough time to continue moving and concealing the stolen assets.

Investigators found that the hackers acted extremely quickly. They split the stolen tokens across more than a thousand wallets, carrying out numerous deposits and withdrawals. They also used blockchain bridges and token swaps to move assets between different networks and cryptocurrencies, significantly complicating tracking efforts.

A substantial portion of the stolen funds ended up in wallets linked to external services connected to Binance. For this reason, police urgently requested that the assets be frozen before they could be transferred again. Binance responded that additional verification was required, and when the freeze was finally implemented, it covered only a small fraction of the identified funds.

According to South Korean media, Binance informed Upbit of the partial freeze late in the evening, nearly 15 hours after the initial request. Professor Cho Jae-woo of Hansung University emphasized that in such cases, every minute matters. He argued that the industry needs a global crisis-response system capable of immediately freezing suspicious assets.

The investigation also confirmed that most of the stolen Solana tokens had already been converted into Ethereum, suggesting an attempt to liquidate the funds more easily. Binance declined to comment on the reasons for the delay or the limited scope of the freeze, stating only that it will continue cooperating with law enforcement authorities.