Binance says customer balances are untouched by this week’s hack because the stolen crypto came from one of its own hot wallets, which the exchange legally owns. A Binance spokesperson explained the setup to journalist Eleanor Terrett. When users deposit crypto on an exchange, the platform typically takes ownership of the assets and credits each customer with a claim on them. Retail holdings are usually pooled in a shared account, and each customer is entitled to a proportional share. The drained wallet held assets that backed those claims, so the loss falls on Binance first. The exchange said it has set aside more than $6.34 billion of its own money to replace what was taken. Without enough reserves, customers could have faced reduced payouts, often called a haircut.

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