FBI blames North Korea for record $6 billion Binance crypto theft

FBI blames North Korea for record $6 billion Binance crypto theft

The FBI has blamed North Korea's state-sponsored hacking unit, TraderTraitor, for stealing about $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. The October 29 attack is considered the largest cryptocurrency theft on record. The FBI says the stolen assets are being converted mainly into Ethereum, and it expects them to be laundered further through decentralized finance and instant swap services. Binance says it has covered about 90 percent of the losses using its own funds, including a user protection fund, an insurance fund and corporate reserves. The exchange has pledged to absorb the full financial impact so that users suffer no losses, and it has resumed bitcoin and Ethereum withdrawals. Investigators have linked the attack to earlier North Korean heists, including the 2025 Bybit hack worth $1.5 billion. Around $3 billion in the stolen assets has been frozen so far, and Binance's investigation into how the breach happened is continuing.