Binance Removes FLOW/BTC Pair After $3.9M Hack
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance took decisive action against the FLOW token on Friday, announcing it would remove the FLOW/BTC spot trading pair starting Saturday. The exchange also placed FLOW and three other tokens on its monitoring tag list. This designation warns investors that these assets exhibit “notably higher volatility and risks” and are at a high risk of no longer meeting the exchange's listing criteria, potentially leading to a full delisting.
While Binance cited "recent reviews" as the official reason for its actions, the move comes directly after the Flow blockchain suffered a $3.9 million exploit last week. The delisting of the Bitcoin pair removes a significant source of liquidity for the FLOW token on the world's largest exchange by trading volume, signaling a major loss of confidence from a key market-making venue.
Flow Foundation Points to Exchange Failures in Exploit Aftermath
In its preliminary post-mortem report on the hack, the Flow Foundation raised concerns about an unnamed exchange's role in the incident. The foundation specifically highlighted an "AML/KYC failure" that allowed the attackers to deposit the stolen $3.9 million in FLOW tokens, convert a portion to Bitcoin, and successfully withdraw the funds. This statement has fueled market speculation that Binance may have been the exchange where the illicit funds were laundered.
In response to the crisis, the Flow Foundation is moving forward with a recovery plan focused on user account restoration and fraudulent token remediation. The team has scrapped an earlier, more drastic proposal to roll back the blockchain to reverse the hack—a decision made after facing criticism from its community. The foundation has stated it expects to release a full post-mortem report and achieve "complete ecosystem restoration" this week.
