Binance Restores 90% of Assets as ETH Funding Stays Negative
Binance says it has replenished 90% of the crypto assets affected by its security breach, up from about 80% in its previous update. It says customer balances remain fully backed, plans to resume withdrawals by November 1, and will continue buying the remaining less-liquid tokens. Updated Proof of Reserves checks are scheduled by November 3, and Binance plans to rebuild its SAFU emergency fund to about $1 billion. Ten major assets, including ETH and BTC, were reported as fully backed.
On October 31, Binance ETH perpetual futures funding was -0.011% per eight hours, improving from -0.0136% earlier. ETH traded near $2,242. Negative ETH funding means short traders were paying longs. About 73.4% of Binance futures accounts were long overall, but that figure was not specific to ETH. Bitcoin funding was positive.
Crypto-wide liquidations reached about $187.87 million over 24 hours, with roughly $143.91 million in long liquidations. These figures cover the broader market, not ETH alone. Binance’s recovery progress may ease concerns about customer funds, while traders continue to watch withdrawal resumption, reserve verification, ETH funding and leveraged liquidations. ETH funding and positioning offer short-term sentiment signals, but do not establish a clear price direction.
Neutral
The direct price impact on ETH appears neutral. Binance’s progress in replenishing affected assets and its claim that major assets, including ETH, are fully backed may reduce exchange-related concerns and support confidence. However, this is primarily an exchange-risk update, not a change to Ethereum’s fundamentals.
In the short term, negative ETH funding means shorts are paying longs and may indicate bearish positioning or provide an incentive for traders to take long exposure. Yet the 73.4% long-account figure applies to Binance futures overall, not ETH specifically, and substantial market-wide long liquidations show that leveraged longs remain vulnerable. These mixed signals do not point reliably in one direction. Over a longer horizon, withdrawal resumption and updated reserve checks could help restore confidence if completed as stated. Until then, ETH may remain sensitive to leverage, broader market liquidations and developments at Binance, leaving the overall price outlook neutral.