Binance has announced a new security feature called 'Withdraw Protection,' designed to safeguard users from physical coercion, commonly known as a 'wrench attack.' The tool allows users to freeze their account against onchain withdrawals for one to seven days, with a stricter 'lockdown' mode preventing early unlocking entirely. Binance says the lock cannot be overridden by its customer service.
The exchange's Chief Security Officer, Jimmy Su, stated the feature was developed based on observed risky and coerced withdrawal patterns, especially for users traveling to high-risk regions.
'We are seeing a pattern where users might go to more risky geographical locations,' Su said. 'They want a user-control layer to put a restriction on withdrawals to give them more time to recover.'
The mechanism is a policy lock, not a cryptographic one, meaning it depends on Binance's enforcement and can't block law enforcement orders. This distinction matters for legal compliance.
The threat of physical coercion is rising. Data from CertiK and researcher Jameson Lopp shows a 75% increase in verified incidents in 2025, with 72 confirmed cases.
Su also warned users about trading bots requesting broad API permissions, comparing the risk to sharing passwords.