North Korea has rejected allegations by the United States that its state-sponsored hackers stole more than $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, escalating tensions between Washington and Pyongyang over cybercrime and the growing use of digital assets to finance illicit activities.
Pyongyang described the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) attribution of the October 29 attack to a North Korean hacking group as “absurd rhetoric” and a “grave political provocation”, accusing Washington of attempting to portray the country as a global cybercrime hub.
The rejection came after the FBI, in an October 31 cyber alert, identified a North Korean-linked group known as TraderTraitor as responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance. The agency said it had observed the attackers converting the stolen funds primarily into Ethereum, raising concerns about efforts to move the assets through decentralised finance platforms and cryptocurrency swapping services.
Read also: North Korea-linked binance breach triggers $3.64bn customer withdrawals
In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a senior official of the ruling Workers’ Party, challenged the American government’s claims.
“The FBI is trying to brand the DPRK as a cyber criminal state, claiming that it obtained information that a hacking organisation ‘supported’ by the DPRK was involved in the incident. But the US assertion is absurd rhetoric and nothing new. It is a grave political provocation against the DPRK that the US misleads international public opinion as if all the cyber crimes in different parts of the world are our deeds,” Kim said.
The dispute adds a geopolitical dimension to what is already one of the largest security breaches in cryptocurrency history, with questions mounting over the security of centralised exchanges, the recovery of stolen digital assets and the ability of international authorities to prevent their laundering.
Binance disclosed that approximately $6.3 billion worth of token assets left its compromised hot wallets during the October 29 incident. The exchange said it would absorb the financial impact rather than pass the losses to customers.
In its October 30 security update, Binance said it had committed more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the affected assets, with approximately $5 billion already held in the corresponding cryptocurrencies. It also reported that about $3 billion in assets had been frozen on-chain through cooperation with law enforcement agencies, blockchain intelligence firms and token issuers.
The exchange subsequently began restoring withdrawal services in phases after temporarily suspending transactions while investigating the breach and strengthening security controls.
On Monday, Binance announced that it would reopen withdrawals for additional cryptocurrencies across several blockchain networks, including BNB Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP and SUI, beginning at 04:00 GMT on Tuesday.
The exchange also said withdrawals for selected crypto assets on Arbitrum, Optimism, Tron (TRX) and Base networks would resume at the same time, signalling a gradual restoration of services across its platform.
The phased reopening is expected to ease disruptions for customers, although the exchange continues to face scrutiny over the security failure and the recovery of stolen funds.
The incident has also exposed the complexity of tracking cryptocurrency stolen across multiple blockchain networks. Blockchain intelligence firm Bitquery reported that approximately $2.7 billion had been frozen by November 2, while about $3 billion remained under the attacker’s control.
The FBI’s attribution is consistent with earlier assessments by blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, which linked the attack to TraderTraitor, a group previously associated with North Korean cryptocurrency thefts.
Read also: Low-liquidity tokens complicate Binance’s effort to cover $6.34bn hack losses
The group has also been linked to the February 2025 Bybit breach, in which approximately $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen, making the latest Binance incident particularly significant for the global digital asset industry.
North Korea has repeatedly denied involvement in cyberattacks attributed to its state-sponsored hackers.
Kim’s statement also questioned the motives behind Washington’s position on the stolen assets, suggesting that the international community should examine who ultimately benefits from recovered cryptocurrency.
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Royal Ibeh is a senior journalist with years of experience reporting on Nigeria’s technology and health sectors. She currently covers the Technology and Health beats for BusinessDay newspaper, where she writes in-depth stories on digital innovation, telecom infrastructure, healthcare systems, and public health policies.
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