FBI says North Korea responsible for $6bn crypto hack

The FBI said North Korea is responsible for a cyberattack involving an estimated $6.3 billion in digital assets from cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.

The FBI attributed the attack to North Korean hackers belonging to the TraderTraitor group.

Blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs had earlier linked the attack to the same group. According to TRM, the attackers moved most of the $6.3 billion within 20 minutes, apparently in an attempt to prevent the assets from being frozen.

The FBI said it had "observed TraderTraitor actors converting stolen assets" primarily into Ethereum.

"It is expected these assets will then be further laundered by converting them using DeFi and instant swap services as they prepare them for further laundering stages," the FBI said in a statement.

Binance said on X it had so far covered about 90% of the assets stolen in the attack. The remaining 10% consisted of tokens that were less liquid, meaning they may take longer to buy back, the company said.

"Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users."

The cyberattack is believed to be the largest theft from a cryptocurrency exchange to date.

The stolen assets included Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins such as Tether and USD Coin, whose values are pegged to traditional currencies.