The FBI has accused North Korea of orchestrating a massive $6.3 billion cryptocurrency heist from Binance, marking the largest digital asset theft on record. According to the FBI, the hackers, identified as the group TraderTraitor, laundered the stolen assets primarily into Ethereum. The same group was previously linked to a $1.5 billion theft from the Bybit platform last February.
Binance has taken steps to mitigate the damage, covering 90 percent of the losses by repurchasing tokens using company funds. The remaining 10 percent consists of less liquid tokens, which may take longer to acquire. Binance assured users that the financial impact would be absorbed by the company, not its customers. The funds used for repurchasing came from the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), a Bitcoin reserve fund, as well as the Futures Insurance Fund and corporate treasury.
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng described the breach as a complex attack involving a compromised laptop and malicious software designed to erase evidence. The exchange temporarily halted withdrawals following the hack but announced plans to resume them on Sunday. Additionally, Binance published a new proof-of-reserves snapshot to verify that user assets were backed at a minimum 1:1 ratio.
Crypto prices dipped on Friday as Binance worked to reassure customers about the security of their funds. The FBI urged virtual asset service providers to block transactions linked to the laundering operation, providing suspected digital addresses for monitoring.