North Korea has denied any role in the record $6.3 billion Binance hack, after the FBI attributed the theft to the state-linked hacking unit TraderTraitor — a charge Pyongyang called “absurd rhetoric” and a “grave political provocation.”
Kim Yo Jong (Credits: CoinDesk)
North Korea Rejects FBI’s $6.3 Billion Binance Hack Attribution
The denial came from Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un and a senior Workers’ Party official, in a press statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on November 3. She accused the FBI of trying to brand North Korea a “cyber criminal state” and of misleading international opinion “as if all the cyber crimes in different parts of the world are our deeds.”
The FBI issued an alert on October 31, saying North Korea was behind the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance on or around October 29 — the largest crypto heist on record. The bureau tracks the activity as “TraderTraitor” and said investigators observed the attackers converting stolen assets mostly into Ether, warning that further laundering through decentralised finance platforms was expected.
Binance Hack: What We Know About TraderTraitor and the Stolen Funds
The FBI’s attribution was supported by blockchain intelligence firms. TRM Labs, Chainalysis and Elliptic all linked the operation to North Korean actors before or alongside the FBI’s announcement. Elliptic estimated the theft at approximately $6.43 billion, with about $2.85 billion frozen or seized so far. TraderTraitor is the same label the FBI used for the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in 2025.
Binance has said the attackers used a compromised employee laptop to submit unauthorized withdrawals, and that it has covered about 95% of the stolen assets from company funds.
Kim Yo Jong also pointed to the Bybit case — which the US likewise attributed to North Korea — and suggested observers should question who ends up with the recovered funds, given the current US administration’s stated plan to seize stolen crypto for a strategic reserve.
Also Read: Binance Spent Half Its SAFU Bitcoin Fund ($580 Million) After $6.3 Billion Hack, Data Shows | Arbitrum Security Council Moved $30 Million of Binance Hack Funds Without the Hacker’s Private Key
Source: CoinDesk — read the full story there.
