Two technical steps followed the 29 October 2026 Binance breach, and both will be tested in public on 1 November 2026. The first was revocation: Binance cancelled the affected address's authorisation. The second is the coming proof-of-reserves snapshot. This article explains what each step actually does, and where its limits lie.

What revocation stopped

The breach worked through delegation: the Binance 14 wallet's authority had been handed to attacker-controlled code under EIP-7702, turning it into a sweeper that forwarded funds automatically. Revoking the authorisation cancels that delegated permission, so the code can no longer act for the wallet. Binance paired this with suspending deposits and withdrawals while it secured its systems. Revocation stops future forwarding through that permission; it does not undo transfers that already happened, and it does not by itself return anything.

What proof of reserves is

A proof-of-reserves snapshot is a point-in-time statement: on a given date, here is what Binance holds in its wallets, set against what it owes customers, coin by coin. Binance 14 itself appeared in the 1 October snapshot, which is how the public knows it was part of the reserves picture before the breach. The 1 November snapshot will be the first such statement taken after the theft, and that timing is what makes it important.

What the 1 November snapshot should show

The key number to watch is ETH backing. Before the breach it stood at 100 percent on 1 October; after about 204,500 ETH left Binance 14, it fell to about 94 percent. If Binance has replaced the missing assets, as co-CEO Yi He has said it will from company funds and the SAFU fund of about $1 billion in bitcoin, the 1 November snapshot should show backing restored. It should also show the wider picture across other coins affected by the estimated $6.3 billion total, though the exact presentation depends on Binance's own reporting.

What the snapshot will not show

A reserves snapshot is not a crime report. It will not name who carried out the attack; attribution to North Korea's TraderTraitor unit remains an investigators' claim from TRM Labs, not a court finding. It will not prove that frozen funds, about $3 billion including Tether's $1.567 billion USDT freeze and Circle's $823 million USDC freeze, have been returned to users, since frozen and returned are different things. And it will not by itself settle the final loss total, which remains preliminary while tracing continues.

The other things to watch alongside it

The snapshot lands alongside two other tests: whether deposits and withdrawals have fully resumed after the expected 48-hour restart window, and whether further investigator updates confirm or revise the $6.3 billion estimate. Readers should treat the snapshot as one checkpoint in an ongoing investigation, not as the final word on the breach.

Frequently asked questions

FAQ: What did Binance revoke? The affected address's authorisation, ending the delegated code's control. When is the next snapshot? 1 November 2026. Will it prove users are whole? It will show whether asset backing has been restored at that date, but it cannot prove frozen funds have been returned or name the attacker.