REGULATION | FBI Urges DeFi Industry to Block Addresses Linked to the Binance Hack - BitKE

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has officially attributed the theft of at least $6 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance to North Korea identifying the state-linked TraderTraitor hacking group and urging cryptocurrency platforms to block addresses associated with the stolen funds.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, reported the security breach after on-chain data showed billions of dollars in digital assets moving from its wallets to newly created external addresses. According to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, the hackers held over $5.7 billion stolen from Binance including $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, $900 million in Ethereum, approximately $1.5 billion in Tether, and over $800 million in USD Coin.

FBI Investigation

In a notice published on October 31 2026, the FBI said it had identified Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana addresses used by the attackers and called on cryptocurrency exchanges, decentralized finance protocols, and other industry participants to block transactions involving those addresses.

The bureau said it had detected signs that TraderTraitor was converting stolen assets primarily into ether with laundering expected to continue through decentralized finance protocols and instant-exchange services.

The FBI remains committed to disrupting North Korea's cryptocurrency theft and laundering operations and requested information that could help identify those responsible or recover the stolen funds.

Binance Response

Binance has said approximately $6.3 billion in digital assets were stolen in the attack which involved a compromised engineer's laptop and weaknesses in its transaction approval system. The exploit reportedly affected 10 blockchains and unfolded in about 20 minutes.

The exchange has set aside at least $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the losses and said customer assets remain safe. Binance and its industry partners have also frozen approximately $3 billion in stolen assets.

The group has previously been linked to North Korea's $1.5 billion Bybit hack in February 2025 making the Binance incident roughly 4x larger than the earlier theft.