FBI blames North Korea for stolen billions from Binance in biggest hack in history - CP24
The FBI has attributed the theft of billions of dollars from Binance to North Korean hackers, calling it the biggest crypto heist in history.
The theft occurred within minutes on Thursday, with $6.3 billion in bitcoin and other digital currency stolen from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. The FBI identified the hackers as TraderTraitor, the same group behind a $1.5 billion Bybit hack last year.
Binance announced it had sufficient reserves to cover 90% of the stolen assets and guaranteed full reimbursement to affected customers. The FBI has requested crypto exchanges and blockchain analytics firms to block transactions linked to the stolen funds.
North Korean Connection
The FBI statement directly links the attack to "malicious cyber activity" by North Korean operatives. However, President Donald Trump expressed uncertainty about the attribution during a Halloween event at his Mar-a-Lago estate, stating "We don't know if it's North Korea" though acknowledging it could still be determined.
Tracking the Stolen Assets
The FBI found that the hackers are primarily converting stolen assets into ethereum and likely plan to use DeFi and "instant swap services" to further obscure the trail. Crypto expert Ari Redbord expects the stolen funds will be broken into pieces and laundered through smaller exchanges over months.
It's just this cat and mouse game.
Redbord described the hack as "bank robbery, in this case, at the speed of the Internet" but emphasized that authorities can track and trace the funds in real time to build investigations and potentially recover them.
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