Binance Introduces Withdrawal Lock Feature to Address Risks of 'Wrench Attacks' and Offline Coercion

According to CoinDesk, Binance has announced the launch of a user-controlled 'Withdraw Protection' feature aimed at preventing offline coercion attacks targeting cryptocurrency holders (commonly known as 'wrench attacks'). This feature allows users to proactively lock their account's withdrawal permissions for 1 to 7 days and offers a stricter 'lock mode,' which cannot be lifted prematurely during the set period. Binance stated that this locking mechanism cannot be overridden by platform customer service but is part of internal policy control rather than on-chain cryptographic-level locking. Binance Chief Security Officer Jimmy Su explained that this initiative stems from observed risk trends on the platform, including instances where users in high-risk regions were forced to make transfers. By setting a withdrawal delay, users can gain critical response and recovery time in extreme situations.