Binance Raises Rebates for Some Market Makers After $6.3 Billion Hack
According to Bloomberg, Binance increased incentives for some market makers trading on its platform after suffering a record $6.3 billion hack, in an effort to boost trading activity on the platform.
According to people familiar with the matter, shortly after the security breach last week, the company contacted smaller trading firms to offer higher rebates in the spot and futures markets.
According to information on its website, Binance primarily classifies market makers into different tiers based on the liquidity they provide. Companies that contribute a larger share of trading volume qualify for higher tiers and typically receive larger rebates, thereby reducing their trading costs.
People familiar with the matter said that during the weeklong promotion, so-called Tier 2 and Tier 3 market makers will receive the same rebate rate as Tier 4 participants, the platform’s highest-tier group. These changes are intended to provide smaller liquidity providers with greater financial incentives to quote on the trading platform and maintain deeper order books.
A Binance spokesperson said that the company’s latest move after the security breach helps calm the market, and added: “Just as we prioritize clear communication, we have taken immediate steps to maintain our core strength: liquidity.”
Market makers play a central role by continuously providing bid and ask quotes. The liquidity they provide allows other investors to trade without causing sharp price swings. According to Talos data, in the 24 hours after the hack, the depth of Binance’s Bitcoin order book fell by about 30%, and the depth within a 1% price range dropped from $45 million to $32 million. Market depth is a measure of how much trading can be absorbed without causing sharp price fluctuations.
Original source:
Title: Binance Boosts Market Maker Incentives in Wake of Record Hack Publisher: Bloomberg Publication date: 2026-11-02 URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-02/binance-boosts-market-maker-incentives-in-wake-of-record-hack Source type: media report Verification status: The visible portions of this page and multiple English secondary reports were cross-checked for this reading; the full text could not be fully accessed due to the paywall (verified on 2026-11-02). Supporting content: Supports all core facts in the body, including raising rebates for some market makers after the hack, contacting smaller trading firms, Tier 2 and Tier 3 receiving the same rebate rate as Tier 4 in the weeklong promotion, the spokesperson quote, and the Talos order book depth data
ABAB AI Insight
Binance’s market maker tiering system has long used trading volume share as a core evaluation standard. Its official spot liquidity provider program shows that Tier 1 through Tier 4 correspond to different weekly maker trading volume share thresholds, and higher tiers can receive negative fee rebates (for example, Tier 4 in some structures can reach the -0.008% to -0.010% range). Temporarily aligning Tier 2 and Tier 3 with Tier 4 rates this time is, in substance, a short-term reduction in trading costs for smaller liquidity providers, to fill the gap left by the thinner order book after the hack.
The hack occurred around October 29 and involved multi-chain transfers from hot wallets, with a scale of about $6.3 billion, making it one of the largest crypto asset thefts to date. The FBI and several on-chain analysis firms attributed it to the North Korea-linked organization TraderTraitor. Binance later announced that it would cover losses with company funds, the futures insurance fund, and SAFU (the Secure Asset Fund for Users), and said user assets were not affected and that most of the stolen assets had been replenished. The market maker incentive adjustment took place against this backdrop, aiming to quickly restore liquidity confidence rather than directly tapping a compensation pool.
A comparable case is Bybit’s roughly $1.46 billion hack in 2025 and the market response that followed. At that time, Bybit likewise emphasized full coverage of user losses and took stabilization measures, but recovery in order book depth depended more on the natural return of trading and continued quoting by top market makers. Binance’s proactive temporary increase in rebates for smaller market makers this time is more directly oriented toward subsidizing quote depth, differing from Bybit’s reliance mainly on compensation statements and the natural return of liquidity; the two share the common point that exchanges prioritize the dual core narrative of “user asset safety + platform liquidity.”
This adjustment changed Binance’s short-term incentive structure for smaller liquidity providers: by aligning fees with the highest tier, it lowers their quoting costs, which may partially offset the roughly 30% decline in Bitcoin order book depth after the hack (Talos data). For the platform, this helps maintain stable bid-ask spreads and trading activity, and avoids further liquidity migration to competitors; for smaller market makers, it provides a window of short-term higher financial returns. Indicators to watch include whether Binance’s Bitcoin spot and derivatives order book depth within the 1% price range rebounds during the promotion period, and changes in the actual quoting share of smaller market makers.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
When liquidity thins after a hack, exchanges prioritize short-term fee incentives over simple compensation statements to stabilize the order book.
Temporarily aligning lower-tier market makers with the highest-tier rebate is a direct way to trade reduced trading costs for deeper quotes.
After a 30% decline in order book depth, maintaining the platform’s core advantage extends from “user asset coverage” to “actively incentivizing liquidity provision.”