FBI Blames North Korea for Record $6.3bn Binance Hack

The FBI on Saturday blamed North Korean hacking group TraderTraitor for stealing $6.3 billion from Binance on Thursday in what it described as the largest cryptocurrency heist in history.

The bureau linked the group to last year’s $1.5 billion hack of Bybit and urged cryptocurrency exchanges and blockchain analytics firms to block associated addresses to prevent the stolen assets from being laundered.

Investigators found that TraderTraitor was converting the stolen assets into Ethereum. They expect the hackers to use decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms and instant-swap services to move the funds.

However, US President Donald Trump, speaking at a Halloween party in Florida, suggested that investigators remained uncertain about North Korea’s involvement.

Ari Redbord, chief policy officer at TRM Labs, described the heist as a “bank robbery at the speed of the Internet” and a “cat and mouse game”. He warned that the hackers could split the assets into smaller amounts and launder them over several months through smaller exchanges. Real-time tracking, however, could help disrupt the process and recover funds.

Binance pledged to reimburse customers fully, saying its reserves covered 90 per cent of the missing assets.