WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FBI on Saturday pinned the largest cryptocurrency theft on record on North Korea, saying a state-backed hacking unit it calls TraderTraitor drained more than $6 billion in digital assets from the Binance exchange on or about Oct. 29.
In its statement, the bureau said agents had watched members of the unit move the stolen holdings into ethereum and expect the funds to be pushed through DeFi and instant swap services as the laundering continues. The FBI also urged virtual asset companies to block transactions tied to the wallets involved.
Federal cyber officials have tracked TraderTraitor since at least 2020 and link it to the wider Lazarus Group, which has hit blockchain and crypto firms with spearphishing and malware campaigns.
Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world, put its losses at about $6.3 billion. Co-CEO Richard Teng said the intruders got in through a compromised laptop and used malicious software built to erase traces of what it did.
The company said Saturday it had already replaced 90% of what was taken by buying new tokens with its own money, drawing on its Secure Asset Fund for Users, a $1 billion bitcoin reserve, along with part of its Futures Insurance Fund and corporate treasury. The rest is made up of thinly traded tokens that will take longer to buy back, and the exchange says customers will not absorb the loss.
Binance halted withdrawals after the breach and said it planned to bring them back in phases starting Sunday.
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