FBI ties $6bn Binance theft to North Korean TraderTraitor
The FBI has attributed Binance’s October 29 theft of more than $6 billion to North Korea’s TraderTraitor actors, and urged crypto services to block laundering routes.
The Top Crypto Editors 2 min read
Was North Korea behind the Binance theft? The FBI says the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was responsible for more than $6 billion in virtual assets stolen from the exchange on or about October 29. In its October 31 announcement, the bureau named the activity TraderTraitor and asked crypto businesses to block transactions tied to the attackers’ addresses. The Associated Press described the theft as the biggest crypto heist in history.
What does the FBI say happened to the stolen assets?
The FBI says TraderTraitor actors have been converting the stolen assets primarily into ether. It expects the funds to be moved through decentralized finance services and instant swaps as part of further laundering. That describes the laundering path the bureau anticipates; its notice does not explain how the attackers breached Binance.
The FBI, the U.S. Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation urged THORNode and RPC node operators, exchanges, DeFi services, analytics firms and other virtual asset providers to block transactions from or derived from listed addresses. The notice includes hundreds of addresses associated with the theft. The action asks intermediaries across several parts of crypto infrastructure to help disrupt the funds’ movement.
How much has been frozen or replaced?
More than $2.4 billion of the stolen funds had been frozen by stablecoin issuers, according to CoinDesk’s report on the FBI notice. Binance said it had replenished 90% of the stolen cryptocurrency and promised customers full reimbursement, the Associated Press reported. Those are separate measures: the frozen amount concerns funds blocked by issuers, while Binance’s figure describes assets it says it has replaced.
CoinDesk reported that Binance planned to resume customer withdrawals on Sunday. The FBI’s notice does not provide a recovery total or say how much of the remaining assets can still be frozen. The next thing to watch is whether withdrawals resume as planned and whether the listed addresses help services intercept further transfers.
References
- October 31 announcement — fbi.gov