Binance hack drives outflows as futures traders hold positions

Binance’s $6.34 billion hack has driven heavy cryptocurrency withdrawals and some of Bitcoin’s most negative social sentiment on record, while futures traders have maintained billions of dollars in positions, according to Santiment.

Santiment’s Nov. 6 report examined exchange flows, social commentary and derivatives activity following the theft, finding that the reaction varied across spot holdings and leveraged positions.

While assets left exchange wallets and bearish commentary dominated discussions, the firm described the reduction in Binance futures positions as relatively orderly, given the size of the security failure.

Bitcoin withdrawals continue after Binance hack

Through Nov. 5, Santiment recorded approximately 28,316 BTC in net outflows from Binance-associated wallets since the attack. Withdrawals had initially been suspended before reopening in stages from Nov. 1.

Across all exchanges tracked by the firm, Bitcoin balances fell by 38,631 BTC, or 2.92%, between Oct. 25 and Nov. 5. Because the decline started four days before the breach, Santiment cautioned against attributing the entire movement to Binance.

Its exchange-flow readings showed 22,317 BTC and approximately 324,640 ETH in net outflows on Oct. 29. Those figures cover tracked exchange activity, including customer withdrawals and institutional transfers, and do not represent a tally of stolen assets.

USDT movements continued after the initial attack. On Ethereum, Santiment recorded roughly 1.71 billion USDT in net exchange outflows on Oct. 29, followed by a larger 3.94 billion reading on Nov. 2.

The later reading followed the start of Binance’s withdrawal reopening. Santiment said the figures did not establish that all the stablecoins were stolen or withdrawn from Binance.

Bitcoin fear deepens while futures positions remain

In social discussions, Bitcoin’s positive-to-negative commentary ratio dropped to 0.37 during Oct. 29–30, according to the report. Negative comments therefore outnumbered positive ones by approximately 2.7 to one.

Binance occupied all six positions on Santiment’s top trending cryptocurrency stories list on Oct. 29, overtaking discussions about the Federal Reserve, Strategy and the approaching U.S. midterm elections.

Despite that concentration of fear, Binance’s Bitcoin futures open interest stood near $8.97 billion by Nov. 5, while Ethereum’s remained around $8.03 billion. Open interest measures outstanding futures contracts that have not been closed.

BNB futures open interest reached approximately $427 million, with the token trading near $692 at the report’s observation point.

Santiment found that Bitcoin funding rates remained predominantly positive and generally within familiar ranges. Although the firm did not describe sentiment as outright bullish, it said traders were not collectively taking unusually aggressive bearish positions.

BNB’s spot trading activity was more pronounced during the initial response. Its Oct. 29 trading volume reached $3.78 billion, the highest daily reading since Feb. 5, according to the report.

ENA records unusually busy withdrawal activity

Ethena’s ENA token stood out for the number of addresses withdrawing funds. During one hour on Oct. 29, Santiment counted 169 active withdrawal addresses, against approximately 20–25 during many surrounding hours.

Its exchange-flow data showed 208.62 million ENA in net outflows that day. Separately, the report cited approximately 217.5 million stolen ENA, worth roughly $40 million at the time, that attackers converted into Ethereum through decentralized trading platforms.

The two figures measure different activity. Santiment’s exchange-flow reading covers net movements across tracked exchange wallets, while the larger amount concerns tokens traced to the attackers.

The firm noted that ENA lacked an issuer-controlled freezing mechanism equivalent to those available for USDT and USDC.

Binance replenishes assets as recovery proceedings continue

In its Nov. 4 recovery update, Binance said it had replaced approximately 98% of the affected assets using company resources. Purchases of the remaining tokens were continuing through markets and over-the-counter channels, with lower liquidity slowing that work.

Its new reserve snapshot, taken at 00:00 UTC on Nov. 4, covered 44 tokens, compared with 10 previously. Binance estimated that generating the accompanying zero-knowledge proof would take 50–60 hours.

Separately, Binance has requested frozen assets from Arbitrum’s DAO, seeking 8,425.997 ETH and 74.56 million ARB, as previously reported by crypto.news.

The exchange estimated approximately 49 days for discussion, voting, and execution, potentially longer if legal claims intervene. Its proposed indemnification agreements would apply New York law, with disputes assigned to state and federal courts in New York County.