ConfirmedBusiness · North Korea

FBI says N. Korea responsible for over $6b crypto theft from Binance

First reported 2026-10-30 13:01 UTC · Updated 2026-11-02 00:58 UTC · 22 independent sources

What happened

Hackers believed to work for North Korea stole a record $6.3bn in cryptocurrency from the exchange Binance, according to analysts at TRM Labs and Chainalysis.

The two firms tie the theft to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit also known as the Lazarus Group, though the Guardian notes the link is not yet proven.

Binance said it has frozen about $3bn of the stolen assets, while the rest remains with unidentified hackers, according to the BBC.

The US Secret Service said it is working to freeze, trace and recover the funds, and Binance said it is working with the FBI.

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said the breach reached beyond one compromised laptop, and that the hackers used a self-destruct mechanism to wipe their traces.

A UN panel said North Korean crypto theft may supply half of the country's foreign currency income and fund its weapons programmes.

“This group, in particular, are somewhat artists in terms of getting into these distributed finance companies”

Straits Times

Summary written by AI from 3 independent sources (Guardian, Straits Times, BBC) and checked automatically against them for copied text and numbers that are not in the sources. How we work

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Who reported it

  1. 2026-10-30 13:01 UTCNPR via AP · npr.org ↗
  2. 2026-10-30 13:46 UTCArs Technica · arstechnica.com ↗
  3. 2026-10-30 19:21 UTCStraits Times · straitstimes.com ↗
  4. 2026-10-31 02:12 UTCBBC · bbc.co.uk ↗
  5. 2026-10-31 04:07 UTCThe Hindu same text as Straits Times · thehindu.com ↗
  6. 2026-10-31 11:16 UTCFrance 24 · france24.com ↗
  7. 2026-10-31 22:54 UTCCBC · cbc.ca ↗
  8. 2026-10-31 23:05 UTCNYT · nytimes.com ↗
  9. 2026-10-31 23:21 UTCJapan Times · japantimes.co.jp ↗
  10. 2026-10-31 23:29 UTCArab News via AP · arabnews.com ↗
  11. 2026-10-31 23:49 UTCSCMP via AP · scmp.com ↗
  12. 2026-11-01 00:20 UTCKorea Herald · koreaherald.com ↗
  13. 2026-11-01 00:45 UTCBangkok Post · bangkokpost.com ↗
  14. 2026-11-01 01:48 UTCABC · abc.net.au ↗
  15. 2026-11-01 01:53 UTCDW · dw.com ↗
  16. 2026-11-01 02:28 UTCAl Jazeera · aljazeera.com ↗
  17. 2026-11-01 02:41 UTCGuardian · theguardian.com ↗
  18. 2026-11-01 02:58 UTCProthom Alo · en.prothomalo.com ↗
  19. 2026-11-01 04:31 UTCTimes of Israel · timesofisrael.com ↗
  20. 2026-11-01 05:38 UTCCNA · channelnewsasia.com ↗
  21. 2026-11-01 06:29 UTCKhaama Press · khaama.com ↗
  22. 2026-11-01 08:17 UTCMyJoyOnline same text as BBC · myjoyonline.com ↗
  23. 2026-11-01 08:45 UTCArab Times via AP · arabtimesonline.com ↗
  24. 2026-11-01 09:42 UTCIOL · iol.co.za ↗
  25. 2026-11-01 14:33 UTCThe Verge · theverge.com ↗
  26. 2026-11-01 15:56 UTCCyprus Mail · cyprus-mail.com ↗

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