Binance Reopens Withdrawals as Crypto Steadies: Daily Brief, 1 Nov 2026
ChainBrief, Sunday 1 November 2026. A daily look at the crypto market with a BNB Chain angle.
The short version
- Binance began reopening withdrawals today, three days after the record hack on 29 October, and says it has now replenished about 95% of the affected assets.
- Majors are calm: Bitcoin, Ether and BNB are each up roughly 1% on the day but still 3-4% lower than a week ago.
- BNB Chain itself was not touched by the exchange breach, and its Jenner upgrade is live on testnet.
Market snapshot
Prices from CoinGecko at about 08:20 UTC on 1 November:
| Asset | Price (USD) | 24h | 7d* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | $77,826 | +0.6% | -3.0% |
| Ether (ETH) | $2,267 | +1.0% | -2.6% |
| BNB | $706 | +0.8% | -4.1% |
*7-day change from Binance spot hourly closes.
The chart tells the week in one picture. All three were flat to slightly positive until the evening of 29 October (UTC), when news of the Binance breach hit and the market dropped about 5% within hours. BNB took the hardest knock, as you would expect for the token most closely tied to the exchange. Since then it has been a slow grind back, with Bitcoin trading in a tight band of roughly $600 over the past 24 hours, according to CryptoClick.
Sentiment is still cautious. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index moved up to 34 from 30, its first rise since the hack, but that is still firmly in "Fear" territory.
Story 1: Binance reopens withdrawals in phases
The biggest story of the week is moving into its recovery phase. Binance said it would restart the first phase of withdrawals between 06:00 and 09:00 UTC today, starting with the Bitcoin network. CZ confirmed on X that "BTC withdrawal is live", and the exchange says it has replenished about 95% of the affected assets, up from 90% on 31 October (crypto.news).
A few details worth knowing:
- The first phase covers 15 networks, including Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Tron, Solana, XRP Ledger, Arbitrum, Base and others. Being on the list does not mean every route opened at the same time.
- Shortly after Bitcoin, Binance reopened ETH, USDT and USDC on Ethereum, and BNB, USDT and USDC on BNB Smart Chain (ChainCatcher).
- Binance says balances in ten assets, including BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL and USDC, are fully backed. The remaining 5% is in less liquid tokens it is still buying.
- A new Proof of Reserves snapshot is out, with full zero-knowledge verification expected by 3 November.
The exchange is covering losses from its SAFU fund, futures insurance reserves and corporate treasury. Analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis linked the attack to the North Korea-connected TraderTraitor group, and about $3 billion of stolen assets had been frozen with partners' help as of Friday (Crypto Briefing).
Why it matters: the restart is the first real test of Binance's promise that users will not bear the loss. Expect heavy traffic and some delays in the first days. The 3 November reserve proof is the next checkpoint.
Story 2: BNB Chain draws a line between chain and exchange
On 30 October BNB Chain said BNB Smart Chain, opBNB, BNB Greenfield and its cross-chain bridges were unaffected and fully operational. The breach hit Binance's hot wallets, not the network (Crypto Briefing).
This is a useful reminder of a basic point: coins on an exchange account and coins in your own wallet on a blockchain carry different risks, even when the brand names look alike.
Story 3: Jenner upgrade live on BSC testnet
While the headlines were about the hack, BNB Chain shipped its Jenner hard fork to the BSC testnet. It brings three changes (TokenPost):
- Payment Lane: 5% of each block's gas is reserved by default for eligible payments, so simple transfers get through even when the network is busy.
- Millisecond timestamps: smart contracts can read block time in milliseconds.
- CAS20: a new standard for compliant assets.
Payment Lane and CAS20 still need governance approval before full activation, and no mainnet date has been announced yet.
Why it matters: BNB Chain is leaning into payments and tokenized assets. A reserved lane for payments is a practical feature for stablecoin transfers, which are a big share of on-chain activity.
What to watch next
- How smoothly the remaining Binance networks and assets reopen.
- The zero-knowledge Proof of Reserves verification, expected by 3 November.
- Whether Fear & Greed keeps climbing out of the low 30s.
- Any mainnet date for Jenner.
Not financial advice. Prices move fast; check live data before acting. Header image is an original illustration made for this post; the chart was made by ChainBrief from Binance public market data.