Crypto News Today: 1 Nov 2026 – Binance Reopens Withdrawals as FBI Blames North Korea

Bitcoin begins November slightly firmer but still well below where it started October. At about 08:05 UTC on Sunday, CoinGecko showed Bitcoin at $77,873 (around £58,130), up 0.9% over 24 hours. The main story is at Binance, which has started letting customers withdraw again after this week's record hack, while the FBI has publicly named North Korea as the culprit.

Market snapshot

Prices from CoinGecko at about 08:05 UTC on 1 November 2026:

Asset	Price (USD)	Price (GBP)	24h change
Bitcoin (BTC)	$77,873	£58,127	+0.9%
Ether (ETH)	$2,269	£1,694	+1.3%
Solana (SOL)	$95.50	£71.29	0.0%
BNB	$705.90	£526.91	+1.1%

The weekend has been calm compared with Friday's sell-off, but October as a whole was weak. Investing.com reports that Bitcoin fell about 7.3% over the month, opening near $83,554 and closing near $77,558, after touching a monthly low of $76,314. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index dropped from 70 on 4 October to 36 by 30 October, moving from "greed" to "fear" in under four weeks.

Institutional flows added to the pressure. US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $643.3 million of net outflows on 30 October, the largest single-day withdrawal of the month according to Investing.com, ending a run of four days of inflows. Analysts at Bitfinex, quoted in the same report, pointed to $75,000 as a level traders are watching, with $80,000 the mark Bitcoin would need to regain for a firmer recovery. Those are reference points traders use, not forecasts.

Binance starts reopening withdrawals

Binance began restoring withdrawals early on Sunday, three days after roughly $6.3 billion was taken from its hot wallets. Reuters reports that the exchange posted on its status page shortly after 06:00 GMT that withdrawals had started. The first phase, scheduled for 06:00 to 09:00 UTC, covers 15 assets and networks: BTC, ETH, BNB, TRX, SOL, XRP, ZEC, DOGE, TON, POL, AVAX, ARB, BASE, OP and SUI, according to TokenPost. Binance says it picked the order based on what users most wanted to withdraw over the past week.

Other points worth knowing:

• More phases to come. Remaining assets and networks will reopen once each passes security and stability checks. Binance has warned that heavy traffic at the start may cause delays or failed withdrawals, and that users can simply try again later.
• Coverage of losses. On Saturday Binance told CNBC it had restored backing for about 90% of the stolen tokens, with BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and ZEC fully backed. By Sunday, Reuters reported the figure at 95%. Binance is using its SAFU fund, part of its futures insurance fund and company money, and says customers will not bear the loss. The remainder is in less liquid tokens that take longer to buy.
• Backing is not recovery. As CNBC points out, replacing tokens from Binance's own funds is not the same as getting the stolen funds back from the attacker. About $3 billion had been located and frozen as of Friday.

We explained how the attack unfolded in our Binance hack explainer. Expect scammers to use the reopening as cover, posing as Binance support or "refund" teams. Only trust Binance's official website and app.

FBI names North Korea's TraderTraitor

In an alert dated 31 October, the FBI said North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion from Binance on or about 29 October. It attributes the attack to the group it calls TraderTraitor. Working with the US Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI says it has seen the attackers converting stolen assets mainly into Ether, and expects them to launder the funds further through DeFi and instant swap services.

The FBI has published a list of linked addresses and asked node operators, instant exchanges, DeFi services, analytics firms and other crypto businesses to block transactions coming from them. Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs, quoted by CNBC, said the attack resembled earlier North Korea-linked heists, with staging that began well before the theft and pre-signed transactions executed in one burst. Reuters reports that the bulk of the theft took around 20 minutes.

For ordinary users, the practical point is that tokens passing through flagged addresses can end up frozen or blocked by services that follow the FBI's list, so it is worth being careful about where unfamiliar tokens have come from.

Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HKDAP heads to Solana

On 30 October, Anchorpoint, the Hong Kong-licensed stablecoin issuer majority-owned by Standard Chartered (Hong Kong) with HKT and Animoca Brands, announced a strategic collaboration with the Solana Foundation. Anchorpoint plans to support native minting and redemption of HKDAP, its Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, on Solana for payments, tokenised asset trading and other high-volume uses. The Solana Foundation will also join Anchorpoint's Tokenised Money Adoption Programme.

No launch date or Solana token address has been announced, and HKDAP remains on Ethereum only during its current beta. Anchorpoint itself warns that fake "HKDAP" tokens exist, so anyone looking for it on Solana should wait for an official contract address.

Base reports record card spending

Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network incubated by Coinbase, said in its weekly recap on 31 October that card payments settled on the network reached a record $243 million in October, up 80% from March, according to exchange.news. Coinbase Tokenized Stocks on Base also passed $4 billion in all-time trading volume on decentralised exchanges. The recap highlighted several new ways to hold and receive USDC on Base, including OnePay's checking deposits, which we covered yesterday.

What to watch

• How smoothly Binance's later withdrawal phases go, and the Proof of Reserves results the exchange said were due on Monday 2 November.
• Whether more stolen funds are frozen as services act on the FBI's address list.
• US spot Bitcoin ETF flows when markets reopen on Monday.

If you're moving funds between chains or swapping into a token you don't know well, run it through the Oddrix rug check first, then compare swap quotes. This roundup is for information only and is not financial advice.

Sources

1. CoinGecko – Live prices for Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and BNB (retrieved 1 Nov 2026, 08:05 UTC)
2. Reuters via Investing.com – Binance resumes bitcoin withdrawals after covering bulk of stolen $6.3 billion
3. TokenPost – Binance will resume withdrawals in phases starting Sunday
4. CNBC – Binance says 90% of $6.3 billion hack losses are now covered
5. FBI – North Korea responsible for $6 billion+ Binance attack
6. Investing.com – Bitcoin faces further downside risks as fear surges, Binance hack rattles markets
7. Anchorpoint – Strategic collaboration with Solana Foundation on HKDAP
8. crypto.news – Standard Chartered-backed Anchorpoint partners with Solana for HKDAP expansion
9. exchange.news – This week on Base: record $243M card spend, $4B in tokenized stock trading

FAQ

Can I withdraw from Binance again?

Binance began restoring withdrawals in phases on 1 November 2026. The first phase covers 15 assets and networks, including BTC, ETH, BNB, SOL and XRP. Other assets will follow after security checks, and Binance warns of possible delays at the start.

Who was behind the Binance hack?

On 31 October the FBI said North Korea's state-backed TraderTraitor group was responsible, and that the attackers were converting stolen assets mainly into Ether.

How did Bitcoin do in October 2026?

According to Investing.com, Bitcoin fell about 7.3% in October, opening near $83,554 and closing near $77,558.

Not financial advice. This article is for general information only and is not financial, investment or tax advice. Crypto-assets are high risk and largely unregulated in the UK; you could lose all the money you put in. Do your own research.