FBI says North Korea responsible for $6bn Binance heist

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says North Korea is responsible for stealing more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

In a cybersecurity advisory published on October 31, the FBI said the theft occurred on or about October 29 and was carried out by North Korean state-sponsored cyber actors operating under the name TraderTraitor.

“The FBI, together with partners at the USSS and IRS-CI, has observed TraderTraitor actors converting stolen assets primarily into Ethereum (ETH). 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.

The FBI urged virtual asset service providers, including THORNode operators, RPC node operators, instant exchanges, decentralised finance (DeFi) services and blockchain analytics firms, to block transactions linked to the stolen funds.

The agency specifically asked the service providers to block transactions “with or derived from addresses TraderTraitor actors are using to launder these stolen assets”.

The FBI also published a list of Ethereum wallet addresses linked to the theft, saying the addresses are “holding or have held assets from the theft, and are operated by or closely connected to North Korean TraderTraitor actors”.

The FBI also asked anyone with information about the activity to contact its local field office or submit a report through its internet crime complaint centre.

Changpeng Zhao, Binance founder, had credited the US law enforcement agencies with helping to track and freeze assets connected to the incident.

“US Law Enforcement agencies (FBI, USSS, IRS and more) provided vital help in this incident, including tracking, freezing, etc,” Zhao said.

He said a social media post could not fully express his appreciation for the agencies, adding that their intervention helped explain why the incident did not cause a bigger decline in bitcoin’s price.

“A tweet can’t fully express our gratitude. Many crypto bros may not realize, a lot of the ‘why bitcoin didn’t drop more?’ credit goes to them,” he said.

In an earlier report, Binance estimated losses from the hack at $6.3 billion and pledged to cover all affected funds. (TheCable)