The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says North Korea was behind this week’s $6.3 billion hack of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency theft in history.
In a cyber alert issued on Saturday, the bureau blamed a North Korean state-backed hacking unit known as TraderTraitor.
North Korea now holds the record for both the biggest and second-biggest crypto hacks ever. The same group was behind the $1.5 billion theft from the Bybit exchange last year.
Binance says its users will not lose money. The exchange has already replaced about 90% of the stolen assets with its own funds.
What FBI Said
“The FBI is releasing information advising the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, on or about October 29, 2026,” the bureau said.
Working with the US Secret Service and the IRS Criminal Investigation division, the FBI said it watched the hackers convert the stolen assets mainly into Ethereum. It expects them to launder the funds further through decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and instant crypto-swap services.
The agencies asked crypto exchanges, blockchain operators, analytics firms, and other virtual asset service providers to block transactions linked to wallet addresses used by the North Korean hackers.
How the Hack Happened
Funds began leaving Binance’s hot wallets, which stay connected to the internet, on the afternoon of October 29 (US Eastern Time). The money moved across several blockchains within minutes.
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng called it a “complex attack.” He said it involved a compromised laptop and malicious software designed to delete evidence of its activity, making the breach harder to trace.
Blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis had already linked the attack to TraderTraitor, also tied to the Lazarus Group, before the FBI’s announcement. Chainalysis said stolen Binance funds mixed on-chain with money taken in last month’s Bitget hack, which was also blamed on North Korea. It estimated that about $2.8 billion of the stolen assets has been frozen.
What This Means for You
If you hold crypto on Binance, the exchange says you will not bear the loss. “We’ve now replenished 90% of the stolen assets, and we’re committed to covering the remaining 10%. Our users will not bear the financial impact of this incident,” Teng said on X.
Binance says Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, BNB, Solana, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD, and Zcash balances are already 100% backed. The remaining 10% consists of less liquid tokens that will take longer to buy back.
To cover the gap, Binance set aside about $6.34 billion of company money. It drew on part of its $1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), its Futures Insurance Fund, and its corporate treasury.
Withdrawals were paused after the hack. Binance says it is on track to reopen them on Sunday, subject to final security checks.
Users should expect possible delays and should only rely on Binance’s official channels for updates, since scammers often target users after major hacks.
The bigger picture is worrying. At $6.3 billion, this single theft is more than four times the size of the Bybit hack. It shows that even the world’s largest exchange is not immune to state-backed attackers.
North Korea’s Record of Crypto Theft
The FBI has previously accused North Korean hackers of several of the biggest crypto heists. These include the $1.5 billion Bybit theft last year and the 2022 theft of $620 million in cryptocurrency.
Experts say Kim Jong Un’s government relies on cyber theft to raise money for the heavily sanctioned regime. North Korea recruits top students from its universities into hacking groups overseen by its intelligence agency, according to reports.
Binance has a growing presence in Pakistan. It received an NOC to begin the local registration process last year. ProPakistani first reported on the suspected Binance hack earlier this week.
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