Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine, believes crypto's muted reaction to Binance's $6.3 billion hack is another sign that a bull market is underway.

Lee pointed to Ethereum's roughly 4% decline following the Oct. 29 theft, which was more than four times larger than the $1.5 billion stolen from Bybit in February 2025. According to Lee, Ethereum fell 8% on the day the Bybit breach was disclosed and extended its losses to 20% within a week. He acknowledged a caveat in the comparison: the 20% figure covers a full week after the Bybit incident, while the Binance-related number reflects only the days since Oct. 29.

Lee Describes the Reaction as "Very Constructive"

In a Nov. 2 statement, Lee described the latest market reaction as "very constructive," arguing that the industry's response to an unprecedented security breach reflects growing resilience. Prices quoted in BitMine's releases show Ethereum fell approximately 17% between Oct. 4 and Nov. 1.

Why Lee Believes the Hack Shows Crypto's Growing Strength

Lee cited six factors behind the relatively subdued market response, including Binance's ability to cover customer losses, swift intervention by stablecoin issuers, and the absence of cascading failures across decentralized finance platforms.

The exchange initially committed more than $6 billion in company funds to cover the stolen assets, seeking to reassure customers that the theft would not leave them exposed to losses. By Nov. 2, Binance said it had replenished approximately 95% of the affected assets using its own funding sources, including its corporate treasury and insurance reserves.

Binance also said users could independently verify that ten major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and BNB, were backed at least 1:1 in its Oct. 31 proof-of-reserves snapshot. Proof-of-reserves reports are recurring transparency disclosures that let customers check for themselves whether an exchange holds enough of each listed asset to cover user balances, rather than relying solely on company assurances.

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic verified approximately $2.85 billion in frozen or seized assets, accounting for 44% of the theft. Tether and Circle were among the companies that restricted compromised tokens, while other issuers and blockchain networks took similar measures. Because stablecoins are centrally issued, their issuers can freeze tokens directly, a mechanism that allowed a substantial share of the stolen funds to be immobilized in the days after the breach.

Lee also highlighted the speed of the criminal investigation. The FBI identified North Korea's TraderTraitor hacking group as responsible within two days, compared with previous incidents in which attribution took considerably longer. Another distinction was the nature of the breach: investigators have linked the Binance incident to compromised corporate infrastructure, rather than a failure in Ethereum or another blockchain's underlying protocol.

BitMine's Ethereum Holdings

BitMine, the Ethereum treasury company Lee chairs, has continued buying Ethereum despite its recent downturn. The company acquired another 8,573 ETH during the latest reporting week, lifting its holdings to 6,060,506 tokens, equivalent to approximately 4.9% of Ethereum's circulating supply.

However, the value of its broader portfolio of crypto assets, cash, marketable securities and other investments declined from $17.4 billion on Oct. 4 to $14.5 billion on Nov. 1, despite the continued accumulation.

Elliptic estimated on Nov. 2 that approximately $3 billion remained in addresses linked to the theft, mostly held in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Binance is also working to source the remaining 5% of affected customer assets, which consist of less-liquid tokens, while preparing another proof-of-reserves snapshot for Nov. 4, the next public checkpoint in the exchange's recovery effort.