Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is preparing to leave its $40 million hack behind it, confirming it had relaunched most of its service May 15.
Binance Goes Live (Again)
Only around one week after hackers managed to circumvent security mechanisms in what CEO Changpeng Zhao said was a coordinated attack, Binance is finishing its last checks before going fully live.
According to the latest announcements from developers, trading and deposits will become available first, with withdrawals shortly afterwards.
“Binance has completed its system upgrade and we will resume all trading activity at 1:00 PM (UTC),” a statement reads.
From now until the commencement of trading, users will be able to cancel open orders, process deposits and use other account related functions. Please note that the withdrawal function will be available shortly after trading resumes.
Developers had frozen operations completely earlier on Wednesday in order to conduct the “system upgrade,” about which little is known.
Zhao had given a running commentary to Twitter followers throughout the process, similarly confirming the relaunch.
At press time, trading had resumed, Zhao reporting that remedial measures remained ongoing due to a spike in demand.
“Should be stabilized now,” he wrote in his latest tweet.
Users To Share 50,000 BNB
Binance further announced that users would receive promotional perks as a gesture of thanks for their patience and tolerance of system downtime in the wake of the attack.
Perhaps predictably, that outreach program will involve Binance’s much-promoted in-house token, Binance Coin (BNB), which itself jumped 7 percent following the announcement.
During the promotional period, which will run from the relaunch through May 18, any user trading more than 1 BTC worth of tokens will qualify to share in a jackpot of 50,000 BNB ($1.26 million).
For those holding one of Binance’s various ‘VIP’ status levels, the exchange will offer a free ‘promotion’ to the next level up for free until May 22.
As Bitcoinist reported, despite gaining some negative publicity over a brief plan to conduct a reorg of the Bitcoin blockchain, Zhao and Binance have appeared to succeed in quashing market fears over the robustness of one of its largest exchanges.
Smaller platform Cryptopia, which lost around $16 million in January, conspicuously fared a lot worse this week, with executives confirming they had appointed liquidators who would conduct an investigation likely to last at least several months.
Binance had covered its losses with its own insurance fund, Zhao admitting it was unlikely to recoup the original bitcoins lost.
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