CertiK says exchanges need hard dollar caps on hot wallets

Crypto exchanges should put hard dollar caps on their hot wallets instead of relying on cold storage ratios alone, CertiK’s research team told Cointelegraph on Tuesday. The advice follows the $6.3 billion Binance hack, in which attackers took control of hot wallets.

“Cold storage is a useful measure of online exposure, but it is not a standalone security score.”

— CertiK research team, Cointelegraph

Quote source: Cointelegraph, 10 November 2026.

Since the hack, exchanges have published how much they keep offline. Gate reported 88.26% of assets in cold storage, and Coinbase says it keeps more than 99% of customer assets offline. We compared those disclosures in our piece on the cold wallet ratio.

How the cap would work

CertiK wants a separate limit for each asset on each blockchain, set at the strictest of three numbers:

• a share of customer liabilities;
• the exchange’s expected withdrawal needs;
• an absolute loss ceiling based on the exchange’s financial resources and its capacity to recover.

A ratio moves with the balance sheet. By our arithmetic, an exchange holding $20 billion that keeps 95% cold still leaves $1 billion online, and that figure grows with deposits. A dollar cap fixes the worst case in advance. “Flexibility should support operating liquidity, while hard dollar ceilings and circuit breakers limit potential loss,” CertiK said.

Why higher ratios stop helping

CertiK says each extra point of cold storage buys less protection once the ratio is already high. Rigid ratios can slow withdrawals, force rushed transfers between wallets and concentrate risk in key management systems.

Regulators in Asia still write rules as ratios. Cointelegraph lists these minimums for customer crypto held cold:

• South Korea: at least 80%;
• Singapore: at least 90%;
• Japan: at least 95%;
• Hong Kong: 98% for licensed trading platforms.

What it means for your exchange balance

No exchange has said it will adopt CertiK’s cap. Binance said last week it had replenished about 98% of the affected tokens and would absorb the losses, and that the rest are less liquid and will take longer to buy. Gate has floated its own test, asking exchanges to prove they can survive a hack.

If you keep funds on an exchange, a cold storage percentage shows how the exchange splits its money, while your possible loss depends on the dollar amount left online. Ask whether the exchange publishes a dollar limit for its hot wallet, check its proof of reserves, and keep on the platform only what you plan to trade.

Based on CertiK’s comments to Cointelegraph, checked on 10 November 2026. The $20 billion example is our arithmetic, not a figure from any exchange. Information only, not investment advice.