Molly White questions Zhao's authority to give coverage assurances
Molly WhiteIndependent writer and cryptocurrency researcher
White questions why Zhao, whom she describes as barred from any control over Binance, is the one promising that losses will be covered.
“Why a person who is barred from any control over Binance would be the one promising this is an exercise I will leave to the reader.”
Analysis
Where this statement fits
Binance promises to cover hack losses; Molly White questions Zhao's role in early assurances
After an October 29, 2026 theft from Binance wallets, founder Changpeng Zhao posted at 21:15 UTC that he no longer managed the exchange but, as a shareholder, expected all user funds to be fully covered. About an hour later, quoting an estimate that the net loss was about $1 billion, he wrote that the loss "might be a bit higher than that, but will cover." Binance's first post on the incident, at 21:29 UTC, said user funds were completely safe. Co-CEO Yi He wrote at 00:04 UTC on October 30 that Binance would cover all hacking losses, and the company's account said Binance would cover all losses nine minutes later. Writer Molly White, publishing at 23:58 UTC on October 29, questioned why Zhao, whom she described as barred from any control over Binance, was the one promising coverage. Later on October 30, Binance said it had reserved more than $6.34 billion of company funds, $5 billion of it already in the affected tokens, and was buying the rest. Co-CEO Richard Teng said withdrawals would stay paused while the service was rebuilt and tested.
Source and context
Analysis
About this source
Molly White's post on her Citation Needed site. She questions Zhao's role in promising that losses would be covered and writes that Binance would otherwise have to draw on its own balance sheet. White revised the post on October 29 and 30 as estimates changed. It was first headlined "Attacker gets away with up to $3 billion from Binance"; the current headline reflects a blockchain analytics firm's attribution of the theft, which we have not verified. The passage quoted appears in the version archived at 03:34 UTC on October 30.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
White writes that Zhao is legally not allowed to have any active role with Binance. She quotes his posts saying he no longer manages the exchange but, as a shareholder, expects all user funds to be fully covered, and later that the loss "might be a bit higher than [$1 billion], but will cover."
After the quotation
White notes that Binance's insurance fund was last reported at about $1.3 billion. She writes that unless more is recovered, Binance will either fail to make users whole or dip into its own balance sheet.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to the assurances that users would be covered, White criticizes Zhao for giving them, pointing to what she describes as a bar on his control of Binance.
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Read the full caseBinance says it has reserved company funds to cover the hack
Binance
“Binance has already reserved over $6.34B of company funds to cover this incident.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Molly White questions Zhao's authority to give coverage assurances". First published: 2026-10-30. Last updated: 2026-10-30. https://disputeindex.com/events/7270-white-questions-why-zhao-whom-she-describes-as