Vitalik Buterin Reveals What Crypto Exchanges Must Do To Survive

After the Binance breach, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said in an interview that smart-contract hacks have fallen sharply and recent major hacks are concentrated in the user-interface layer and centralized components. He said firms increasingly see survival, or bunker mode, as their main priority for the next two years, citing Binance's decision to develop its own smart-chain infrastructure as an example of blockchain-based protections. Binance is recovering from an October 29, 2026, $6.3 billion hack, the largest in crypto history, attributed to North Korea's TraderTraitor group; it replenished nearly all affected assets from reserves, resumed phased withdrawals, and froze $3 billion. Founder Changpeng Zhao said serious security failures occurred and no platform is unhackable, while expecting transparency, responsibility and upgrades.