The FBI has accused North Korean hackers of orchestrating the largest crypto heist in history, stealing $6.3 billion from Binance on Thursday. The bureau linked the attack to an entity called TraderTraitor, which was also behind a $1.5 billion hack of Bybit last year. The FBI urged crypto exchanges and blockchain analytics firms to block transactions tied to the stolen funds to prevent money laundering.
The FBI noted that the hackers were converting the stolen assets primarily into Ethereum and expected them to use decentralized finance (DeFi) and instant swap services to further launder the money. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, when asked about the hack at a Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago estate, expressed uncertainty about North Korea's involvement, stating that investigators were still learning about the case.
Crypto expert Ari Redbord predicted that the hackers would break the stolen assets into smaller pieces and launder them through smaller exchanges to avoid detection, a process that could take months. Redbord, chief policy officer at TRM Labs, compared the hack to a bank robbery but emphasized that the stolen funds could be tracked and potentially seized.
Binance assured customers that it had enough Bitcoin reserves to cover 90% of the stolen assets and promised full reimbursement for affected users. The company described the theft as bearing the hallmarks of a North Korean hack, aligning with the FBI's findings.