The recovery of assets taken from Binance now depends on whether investigators can locate funds at exchanges in time for authorities to secure them, TRM Labs' Ari Redbord said.
In an Oct. 30 interview with Bankless, Redbord put the amount blocked by Tether and Circle at about $2.4 billion, roughly 40% of the $6 billion he cited for the theft. He said the assets were blocked within roughly the first hour after the incident.
Redbord said TRM Labs alerted customers and smaller exchanges that might be affected, and worked with Binance and Beacon Network participants. He said participants account for about 85% of centralized crypto trading volume. The participants also include 100 law enforcement agencies, he said.
The $6 billion figure differs from TRM's earlier estimate of $6.36 billion in transfers from Binance-attributed wallets.
Redbord said recovery becomes harder as assets move through more wallets, smaller exchanges and over-the-counter brokers, where they may be converted to cash. Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) are harder to recover as their transaction paths grow more complex.
He said tracing can show where funds move, while investigators must use legal channels to obtain exchange account records. Redbord said exchanges and stablecoin issuers may need legal process, including subpoenas, search warrants or seizure warrants, to secure the assets. He said the process could continue through civil forfeiture cases or court hearings.
