Crypto exchanges should set hard dollar limits on assets held in hot wallets rather than use cold-storage ratios alone to assess security, cybersecurity firm CertiK told Cointelegraph.
The recommendation, reported on November 10, 2026, followed disclosures by exchanges seeking to reassure customers after the record Binance hack targeting its hot wallets. Gate reported holding 88.26% of its total assets in cold storage, while Coinbase said more than 99% of customer assets were kept offline.
“Cold storage is a useful measure of online exposure, but it is not a standalone security score,” CertiK’s research team said.
Why storage ratios are not enough
Cold-storage requirements differ across jurisdictions. South Korea requires crypto service providers to keep at least 80% of customers’ crypto assets by value offline. Singapore’s guidelines call for at least 90%, Japan’s framework requires at least 95%, and Hong Kong sets a 98% baseline for licensed crypto trading platforms.
CertiK said higher cold-storage levels generally reduce online exposure, but the benefit diminishes at very high levels. Rigid ratios could also slow withdrawals, require rushed transfers and concentrate risk in key-management systems.
Instead, the firm recommended setting hot-wallet caps for each asset and blockchain using the strictest of three limits:
- A percentage of customer liabilities.
- Estimated withdrawal needs.
- An absolute loss ceiling tied to the exchange’s financial resources and recovery capabilities.
“Flexibility should support operating liquidity, while hard dollar ceilings and circuit breakers limit potential loss,” the researchers said.
Binance recovery and reported laundering activity
Binance said the week before the article’s publication that it had replenished approximately 98% of affected tokens following the hack and would absorb the losses. In a recovery update on Wednesday, the exchange said the remaining tokens were less liquid and would take longer to acquire.
Separately, Elliptic said North Korea-linked hackers had created memecoins to launder proceeds from the theft. The firm traced roughly $430,000 through six newly launched tokens on NEAR. Liquidity pools helped obscure transfers between wallets, according to Elliptic, although the transactions remained traceable onchain.
Original publication: November 10, 2026, at 13:05:58 UTC+08:00. Source: Cointelegraph.