Crypto exchanges need dollar caps on hot wallets, CertiK says
CertiK recommends that crypto exchanges set hard dollar caps on hot-wallet holdings instead of relying only on cold-storage percentages. It says caps should reflect customer liabilities, expected withdrawals and the exchange’s ability to absorb losses, while circuit breakers limit exposure. High cold-storage ratios can reduce online risk, but rigid requirements may delay withdrawals or concentrate key-management risks. The advice follows exchanges publicizing cold-storage levels after a Binance hot-wallet hack: Gate reported 88.26% of assets offline and Coinbase said it keeps over 99% of customer assets offline. Binance says it has replenished about 98% of affected tokens. Elliptic also reported that North Korea-linked hackers routed roughly $430,000 through newly created NEAR memecoins to obscure stolen funds.
