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FBI says North Korea's TraderTraitor stole over $6 billion from Binance; Binance replaces 90% of funds
The FBI said on 31 October that North Korea stole more than $6 billion in crypto from Binance on or about 29 October, naming the group TraderTraitor, part of Lazarus. Binance says it has replaced 90% of the assets and is resuming withdrawals. Trump said he does not yet know who was behind it.
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The FBI has said that North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from the crypto exchange Binance. In a statement on Saturday, 31 October, it put the theft on or about 29 October and named the group TraderTraitor, a Pyongyang-affiliated actor. Binance says it has replaced about 90% of the stolen assets and has begun resuming withdrawals in phases. President Donald Trump said that his administration does not yet know whether North Korea was responsible.
The FBI's attribution
The FBI said North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets, which Binance's own initial disclosure put at about $6.3 billion. TraderTraitor is believed to be part of the Lazarus Group, which was accused in 2014 of hacking Sony Pictures, and the same group is blamed for a $1.5 billion theft from the exchange Bybit in February of the previous year. One report calls this the first public confirmation of North Korea's role from US federal investigators, with earlier assessments coming from private cybersecurity researchers.
The reports found do not describe how the breach happened. Binance's founder, Changpeng Zhao, said that the incident appeared to be a hack.
How the money is moving
The FBI, with the US Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, observed TraderTraitor actors converting the stolen assets mainly into Ethereum. It expects the funds to be laundered further through decentralised finance platforms and instant swap services. Federal officials urged exchanges, blockchain analytics firms and other digital asset providers to block transactions involving wallet addresses linked to the stolen funds.
Binance suspended deposits and withdrawals after the theft. It said it had set aside more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the losses and had bought tokens to replace 90% of the stolen funds. The remaining 10% are less liquid and may take longer to source, and Binance is continuing to buy them through market and over-the-counter transactions. It said that major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and BNB are fully backed.
Withdrawals began to resume in phases on Sunday, starting between 0600 and 0900 GMT, with tokens prioritised by recent user demand. Binance said: 'Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users.'
Trump said on Saturday that his administration was still gathering information and did not know whether North Korea was responsible. He said that he was not concerned, that we are learning about it, and that there is going to be a lot more pain, adding a warning of a wider wave of more sophisticated cyberattacks as artificial intelligence grows more powerful.
Bitcoin fell nearly 5%, Ethereum nearly 6% and Binance's native token, BNB, nearly 10%, according to one report, which describes the attack as possibly the biggest-ever crypto heist. Shares of Coinbase, Strategy and Robinhood fell between 7.2% and 10.6% on Friday on reports of the theft.
The reports found do not give the amount of stolen funds that has been frozen, and they do not describe how the attackers got in. The FBI's statement is quoted but is not reproduced in full, and the date of the theft is given as 29 October by the FBI and as Thursday by another report. The exact loss is given as more than $6 billion by the FBI and about $6.3 billion by Binance.
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