The company said the funds set aside would cover approximately 80 per cent of the total amount affected by the incident.

"This means that we have already covered approximately 80% of the impacted amount," Binance said in a statement.

The cryptocurrency exchange further said it was actively purchasing the remaining relevant token assets through market and over-the-counter (OTC) channels.

Binance has reported that approximately $6.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in the major security incident, potentially making it one of the largest cryptocurrency heists in history.

According to the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, its preliminary investigation suggested that the breach may have originated from a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer. The attacker allegedly used the compromised device to gain access to a service container and initiate unauthorised withdrawal transactions.

"Binance's initial investigation suggests that the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, which allowed an attacker to gain access to a service container and submit unauthorised withdrawal transactions," the exchange said in a statement.

However, Binance said it had found no evidence that any wallet private keys had been leaked during the incident.

"We will share a detailed technical post-mortem once the investigation is complete and the facts are fully verified," the statement added.

The exchange estimated the total financial impact at approximately $6.3 billion, adding that it had been working with blockchain partners to freeze the affected assets.

"We have worked with blockchain partners to freeze affected assets, with approximately $3 billion frozen on-chain so far," Binance said.

Assuring users that their funds remained safe, the company said it would cover all losses through its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and its own funds.

"Binance will cover all losses from the SAFU fund and the company's funds," it said.

"Our teams are working around the clock to resolve this issue safely and thoroughly. We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to confirm the identity of these criminals and bring them to justice," the exchange added.

North Korean Hackers Suspected

Meanwhile, cybersecurity and cryptocurrency intelligence experts have pointed towards North Korea as the possible source of the attack.

Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs attributed the incident to TraderTraitor, an elite North Korean hacking group, citing what it described as strong on-chain and off-chain intelligence.

"TRM attributes the attack to TraderTraitor, North Korea's elite hacking unit, based on robust on and off-chain intelligence. We make this judgment with high confidence," the firm said in a statement.

TRM Labs added that it was tracking the movement of the stolen funds and alerting industry partners through its Beacon Network.

Singapore-based blockchain tracking firm Pangolin Intelligence also said it believed North Korean hackers were behind the incident.