The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Thursday that it has seized around $1.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency stolen from Binance last month. The DOJ attributed the theft to actors linked to the North Korean military and pledged to take action against cyber scams originating from North Korea. The attack, which occurred on October 29, resulted in the theft of over $6 billion from Binance. Joint efforts by the US government and the private sector have frozen more than $2.7 billion of the stolen funds.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified the group responsible for the attack as “TraderTraitor,” members of the North Korean military. The DOJ described the theft as part of North Korea’s efforts to fund its regime through massive cryptocurrency thefts.
Binance’s Proof of Reserves (PoR) system allows users to check if their assets are included in the exchange's reserve records. Users can verify their account balances by logging into Binance, navigating to their profile, and accessing the Wallet → Verification section. The exchange records balances on the first day of each month at midnight (00:00 UTC), with results published by the seventh day.
Users can download their personal verification details, including a Record ID and Merkle Leaf information, to confirm their account’s inclusion in the PoR data. The user_config.json file provides detailed financial information, such as TotalEquity, TotalDebt, and TotalCollateral, which users must scale correctly to interpret. If verification fails, users should check the reporting period, asset coverage, and ensure they are using the correct verifier version.