Post-Binance hack: Industry experts weigh in on crypto’s safest haven

The Binance hack, acknowledged as the largest by hacked value at almost $6 billion, led the exchange to resume withdrawals in stages on 1 November after an incident on 30 October 2026; Abu Dhabi’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority said it was aware of asset withdrawals without authorization and was working with Binance. Binance told customers safeguards had been added, security checks completed and affected services checked, and said funds were safe. It intensified debate among analysts and executives over centralized exchanges, digital-asset ETFs and ETPs, and decentralized finance, with some favoring ETFs/ETPs for institutional backing and recourse and Standard Chartered analysts expecting movement to decentralized exchanges. DeFi offers no corporate or institutional safety net against code flaws or malicious transactions.