Binance, that is estimated to holds over $100 billion in user funds, has rolled-out a new defense strategy to give users more control over their stored funds. On Monday, the exchange launched its “Withdraw Protection” feature as a new layer to traditional digital security rails like the two factor authentication (2FA) in an attempt to combat instances of in-person crypto manipulation and robberies.
The feature will essentially allow Binance users to activate a lockdown on withdrawals in case they are being forced by malicious actors to wire crypto funds into suspicious wallets. The lockdown window could range from one to seven days.
“When activated, Withdraw Protection blocks all on-chain withdrawals from your Binance account for a preset lockdown window. During that window, no one, including yourself, can move your crypto off the platform,” the exchange that has shifted a major chunk of its operations to the UAE said in its announcement on Monday.
The feature with a standard default window of has been integrated under the account and security settings on Binance platforms — both, its app and its website. Once enabled, the feature would only restrict withdrawals for the chosen period, leaving other services like trading and managing positions functional.
Once triggered, the option cannot be overridden — neither by Binance nor by the users. Those who feel they could have to reverse the feature would necessairly need to opt for the “allow to unlock in advance” option and then re-start withdrawals after verifying their security keys.
“Most security advice you’ll read about crypto assumes that the threat is digital. But there’s a category of risk those defences don’t cover: physical coercion. These are situations where someone is pressured, in person, to move their own funds. Such cases are rare, but the losses can be severe and irreversible. It’s not a feature we expect most users to need often, but you can turn it on in your account security settings in under a minute,” the exchange noted.
The public response to this feature seems optimistic on X.
The rise in physical coercion attacks was addressed in a Chainalysis report last year. The on-chain intelligence said that these “wrench attacks” have emerged as an alarming subset of personal wallet theft.
“Overall, while these violent attacks remain comparatively rare, the physical dimension — including maiming, kidnapping, and homicide — elevates the human impact of these cases to an extraordinary degree,” the Chainalysis report had noted at the time sharing key figures.
Source: Chainalysis
The movement in Bitcoin prices have particularly shown a correlation with physical violence attack, Chainalysis had pointed out. Regions including the U.S., Germany, Russia, Canada, Japan, Indonesia, and South Korea have registered the most number of these violent in-person attacks.
As of April this year, around $165 million worth of cryptocurrency have been stolen through hack attacks. Over 76 percent of the hacks have been tied to North Korean hackers so far this year, report by TRM Labs has said.