Binance Proof of Reserves November 4: How to Verify Your Balance in 5 Minutes — and the 5% the New Snapshot Still Doesn't Cover

Binance will take a new proof-of-reserves snapshot today, November 4, and this one matters more than the last. The October 31 snapshot proved that ten major tokens were backed at least one-to-one, but it left out everything else you might hold — and Binance itself says about 5% of the money affected by the $6.34 billion October 29 hack is still being sourced. If your coins sit on Binance, the November 4 snapshot is the first reserve evidence that could cover them, and the cryptographic proof behind it will take another 40 to 50 hours to generate. This guide shows you how to verify your own balance in about five minutes, what the proof can and cannot tell you, and the five numbers that decide whether to keep your coins on the exchange or move them.

The stakes are not abstract. Since withdrawals reopened in phases on November 1, customers have pulled a net $4.72 billion from Binance, according to CoinDesk reporting cited in market coverage of the recovery. That is a bank-run-sized vote of no confidence, even as the exchange says it has covered roughly 95% of the affected amount with company funds. The honest question for every Binance user right now is not whether the exchange survived — it clearly kept operating — but whether your specific balance is backed, verifiable, and withdrawable. Proof of reserves answers the first two questions for the ten tokens it covers. It answers nothing about the rest, and nothing about the future.

What happened, in 60 seconds

On October 29, hackers drained roughly $6.34 billion from Binance hot wallets in the largest crypto theft on record. The FBI has attributed the attack to North Korea's TraderTraitor group, which reportedly used fake job interviews and an AI tool to get inside. Binance halted withdrawals while it secured its systems, then began reopening them in phases: phase one on November 1 covered 15 networks, and phase two from 04:00 UTC on November 3 reopened more than 100 asset-and-network combinations across nine networks — BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, Solana, XRP Ledger, Sui, Arbitrum, Optimism, Tron and Base.

Alongside the reopening, Binance published a proof-of-reserves snapshot taken at 00:00 UTC on October 31 and, on November 2, completed the full zero-knowledge proof for it. Holders of ten tokens — Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, BNB, Solana, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and Zcash — can now independently verify that their balances were backed at least one-to-one at that moment. Issuers have also frozen a large share of the stolen funds: more than $1.1 billion in USDC and more than $1.567 billion in USDT, according to recovery tracking, while researchers estimate the hackers still control about $3.28 billion, mostly in Bitcoin and Ether.

The November 4 snapshot is the next dated milestone. Binance has said it will cover more tokens than the first ten, and that generating its zero-knowledge proof will again take approximately 40 to 50 hours. That timetable matters: a snapshot taken today will not be fully verifiable until roughly November 6. Until then, users of tokens outside the first ten are relying on the exchange's word and on the phased withdrawal reopening, not on cryptographic proof.

What proof of reserves actually proves — and what it does not

Proof of reserves is widely misunderstood, and that misunderstanding is dangerous. It is not an audit, it is not insurance, and it does not prove an exchange is solvent. Here is the honest split:

What the Binance proof proves	What it does NOT prove
Your account balance was included in the October 31 snapshot for the ten covered tokens	That Binance is solvent overall, including its liabilities outside those tokens
The aggregate holdings for those tokens were backed at least one-to-one at that moment	That the backing still exists today — a snapshot is a photograph, not a live feed
The proof was generated with a Merkle tree plus a zk-SNARK, so no individual balance is exposed	That the exchange cannot move, lend or rehypothecate reserves after the snapshot
Withdrawals for the reopened networks and assets are processing in phases	That every token you hold is covered — the first proof covers ten tokens only
About 95% of the affected amount has been covered with company funds, per Binance	That the remaining 5% of less-liquid tokens will be fully recovered, or when

The mechanism itself is sound and worth understanding. A Merkle tree lets each user check that their own account sits inside the reserve snapshot, using a leaf hash derived from their balance. The zk-SNARK — a zero-knowledge proof — then proves the total is backed at least one-to-one without revealing anyone's individual balance. That combination is a genuine improvement over the old "trust us" model. But it only proves what it measures, at the moment it measures it, for the assets it includes. A clean proof of reserves for ten tokens tells you nothing about the eleventh token in your portfolio.

The 5-minute verification checklist: check your own balance

Do not take any article's word for it — including this one. If you hold any of the ten covered tokens on Binance, verify your balance yourself. The whole process takes about five minutes:

1. Open the official proof page: go to Binance's proof-of-reserves page from the exchange's own site or app, never from a link in an email, direct message or social post. Binance has explicitly warned users about withdrawal scams circulating during the reopening, and fake proof pages are a classic phishing trap.
2. Confirm the snapshot date: make sure you are looking at the October 31, 2026, 00:00 UTC snapshot with the completed zero-knowledge proof. An older proof from before the hack proves nothing about your post-hack balance.
3. Enter your verification code: Binance provides a per-account verification path that lets you confirm your balance is included in the Merkle tree. If your account does not verify, stop and contact support through the official app — do not send funds anywhere to "fix" it.
4. Check your token is actually covered: confirm your token is one of the ten: BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD or ZEC. If it is not, your balance is not covered by this proof, whatever the headline says.
5. Test a small withdrawal: if your asset and network are in the reopened list, withdraw a small test amount to a wallet you control before moving the rest. A successful small withdrawal proves more than any report ever will.
6. Save the evidence: screenshot your verification result with the date visible. If a dispute ever arises, a dated record of what the exchange showed you is worth more than your memory of it.

If you are new to self-custody, read our beginner explainer first: What Is a Crypto Wallet? The Complete Beginner's Guide explains the difference between exchange accounts and wallets you control, and How to Store Crypto Safely in 2026 covers cold storage and seed-phrase security in detail. For most holders, the safest setup after a hack of this size is a hardware wallet for long-term holdings and only trading funds left on an exchange.

The 5% gap: which coins are still waiting

Binance says approximately 95% of the impacted amount is covered, and the remaining 5% consists of less-liquid tokens that are still being sourced. Five percent of $6.34 billion is roughly $317 million — not a rounding error. Holders of smaller tokens face three specific risks that holders of Bitcoin or Ether do not.

First, sourcing takes time: thin markets mean Binance cannot simply buy back the missing tokens without moving the price against itself. Second, the November 4 snapshot may include more tokens, but inclusion in a snapshot is not the same as full backing — watch for the proof, due 40 to 50 hours after the snapshot, not just the announcement. Third, withdrawal reopening is demand-based and phased: just because Bitcoin withdrawals work does not mean your token's network is live yet. Check the exchange's network status page for your specific asset before assuming you can exit.

This is also where the frozen-funds numbers cut both ways. Issuers freezing more than $1.1 billion in USDC and $1.567 billion in USDT helped contain the damage, and it is one reason stablecoin holders were covered first. But freezing only works for tokens with a central issuer that can freeze them. Bitcoin, Ether and most decentralised tokens cannot be frozen, which is why researchers estimate the hackers still hold about $3.28 billion, mostly in BTC and ETH. If you hold a token nobody can freeze, your protection is your own withdrawal, not someone else's intervention.

Withdrawals phase two: what reopened on November 3

Phase two, which began at 04:00 UTC on November 3, is the widest single step of the recovery so far: more than 100 asset-and-network combinations across BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, Solana, XRP Ledger, Sui, Arbitrum, Optimism, Tron and Base, plus all bSTOCKS tokenised stocks on BSC. The list runs from Bitcoin and Ether through DOGE, SHIB, LINK, ADA, DOT, LTC, NEAR, XLM and HBAR to memecoins such as BONK and TRUMP. Fiat reopenings are also rolling out progressively.

Two cautions apply. The rollout is progressive, not instant: an asset can be listed as reopening while your specific network route is still queued. And Binance's own warning about withdrawal scams is worth taking literally — scammers are impersonating support staff and circulating fake "recovery" links while users are anxious to move funds. Real Binance staff will never ask for your password, seed phrase or a "verification deposit" to release a withdrawal.

Five numbers that decide whether to trust it

Number	What it means	What to watch next
$4.72 billion	Net customer withdrawals since the November 1 reopening — confidence is still draining	Whether daily outflows slow to a trickle or stay elevated through the week
95% covered	Share of the affected amount Binance says it has covered with company funds	The remaining 5% — roughly $317 million in less-liquid tokens
10 tokens verified	Tokens covered by the completed October 31 zero-knowledge proof	How many tokens the November 4 snapshot adds, and whether its proof verifies
40 to 50 hours	Time needed to generate the full zero-knowledge proof for a snapshot	Around November 6 for the November 4 snapshot's proof — not today
$3.28 billion	Stolen funds researchers estimate the hackers still control, mostly BTC and ETH	Whether further freezes, seizures or laundering moves shrink that pile

Read together, these numbers tell a mixed story, not a clean one. The exchange covered most of the loss fast, reopened withdrawals in days rather than weeks, and shipped a verifiable proof for its biggest tokens. At the same time, customers have still pulled $4.72 billion, the proof covers only ten tokens, and the hackers retain billions. Both halves of that story are true, and any article that gives you only one of them is selling you something.

What to do with your coins now

Your decision depends on what you hold and how you use it. If you hold only the ten verified tokens, have verified your balance, and have successfully test-withdrawn, keeping a trading balance on Binance is a defensible choice — but it is a choice, not a default. If you hold tokens outside the ten, or you cannot verify your balance, the burden of proof is on the exchange, and the prudent move is to withdraw what you can, when your network reopens, to a wallet you control.

For long-term holdings, the comparison we published for beginners still stands: Best Crypto Wallets for Beginners in 2026 compares hot and cold wallets side by side. The short version: a hardware wallet removes your coins from any exchange's hot-wallet risk entirely, at the cost of convenience. After the largest exchange hack in history, that trade looks cheap. Whatever you do, never type your seed phrase into any website, app or "verification" form — no legitimate proof-of-reserves check will ever ask for it.

One more myth to kill: proof of reserves does not make an exchange hack-proof. The October hack exploited hot-wallet access and social engineering, not reserve accounting. A perfect reserve report and a breached hot wallet can coexist quite happily. That is why our earlier coverage of the exchange-safety checks after the hack — including Binance Withdrawals Restarting: $6.34B Refund, Proof of Reserves on Nov 2 and Binance Proof of Reserves Today (Nov 2): 5 Tests the $6.3B Report Must Pass — keeps coming back to the same point: verify, withdraw a test amount, and keep only what you actively trade on any exchange.

Frequently asked questions

Is my Binance balance safe right now?

If you hold one of the ten verified tokens, have confirmed your balance in the October 31 zero-knowledge proof, and your network withdrawals are open, your balance was backed at least one-to-one on October 31. That is not a guarantee about today, and it does not cover tokens outside the ten. Verify and test-withdraw rather than assuming.

When will the November 4 proof of reserves be verifiable?

Binance has said generating the full zero-knowledge proof takes approximately 40 to 50 hours after the snapshot. A snapshot taken on November 4 should therefore be fully verifiable around November 6. An announcement without the proof is a promise, not evidence.

Which tokens does the current proof cover?

Ten tokens: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USDT, BNB, Solana (SOL), USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and Zcash (ZEC). If your token is not on that list, it is not covered by the completed proof yet — the November 4 snapshot is supposed to expand the list.

What does the 95% coverage figure mean?

Binance says it has covered approximately 95% of the amount affected by the hack with company funds. The remaining 5% — roughly $317 million — is less-liquid tokens still being sourced. Coverage of the loss and proof of reserves for your balance are related but different things.

Can Binance proof of reserves be faked?

The Merkle-tree plus zk-SNARK design makes faking an individual user's inclusion hard to hide, because users can check their own leaf. But the proof only covers what it includes, at one moment in time, and it does not audit liabilities, related-party loans or off-balance-sheet obligations. Treat it as one check among several, not as a clean bill of health.

Should I move all my crypto off Binance?

That depends on your holdings and habits. Traders who need exchange liquidity may keep a trading balance there after verifying and test-withdrawing. Long-term holders with no near-term trading plans are usually better off in self-custody, ideally a hardware wallet. Either way, never keep your entire stack in one place, and never share your seed phrase with anyone.

Conclusion

The November 4 snapshot is a real step forward — if it expands coverage beyond ten tokens and its proof verifies around November 6, Binance will have closed much of the evidence gap the hack opened. But the numbers that matter most are the ones you can check yourself: your balance in the proof, your token on the covered list, and your test withdrawal landing in a wallet you control. Do those three checks this week, before the next headline tells you what to think. In a market where $4.72 billion has already walked out the door, the users who verify first are the ones who sleep best — and the exchanges that survive are the ones that make verification easy, not just announced.

This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Figures are drawn from Binance recovery updates and contemporaneous reporting, including CoinCentral's coverage of the withdrawal reopening and scam warnings, Blockchain Reporter's explanation of the zero-knowledge proof, CompareCEX's recovery tracker, CoinCourier's 95% coverage report and MABOnChain's phase-two breakdown. Prices and flows move fast; check the live proof page and network status before acting.