North Korea-linked hackers steal more Bitcoin than held by Tesla, El Salvador in industry's biggest heist - Korea JoongAng Daily
North Korea-linked hackers stole $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency, including 18,270 Bitcoins, in the largest single hack in the industry's history, according to reports.
Hackers linked to North Korea stole 18,270 Bitcoins, worth about $1.4 billion, from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, on Thursday.
The theft, which also included ethereum, stablecoins and other digital assets, is estimated to be worth $6.3 billion, making it the largest single hack in the industry's history.
The haul exceeds Tesla's Bitcoin holdings of 11,509 coins by 59 percent and is 2.3 times the 7,820 Bitcoins held by El Salvador's government.
The stolen $1.4 billion in Bitcoins is worth nearly three times North Korea's annual merchandise exports, which were just $468.59 million last year.
FBI identifies group
The FBI formally identified North Korean hacking group TraderTraitor as responsible for the attack in a statement released on Saturday.
The announcement marked the first official confirmation by U.S. investigators of the group's suspected involvement in the breach.
TraderTraitor has also been linked to the $1.5 billion hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bybit in February 2025.
Binance said that it has recovered or frozen about $3 billion of the stolen assets on the blockchain.
Exchange response
Binance is also using its own funds to cover customer losses and is investigating how the hackers accessed its systems.
The exchange has not yet disclosed the specific security vulnerability exploited by the hackers.
Related
