The FBI said North Korea was responsible for the theft of approximately $6.3 billion in digital assets from cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The agency identified the activity as “TraderTraitor” and said the stolen funds had recently been converted mainly into Ether (ETH).
According to the FBI, the hackers are expected to move the assets through decentralized finance platforms and instant-swap services as they advance their laundering efforts. The agency urged blockchain infrastructure providers, exchanges, DeFi services, analytics firms and other digital-asset companies to block transactions linked to the addresses used by the group. It also published a list of those addresses.
The hack triggered political discussion in the United States as the Nov. 3 election approached and voting had already begun in some locations. Asked about the incident at a Friday news conference, President Donald Trump said authorities were examining the matter and referred to claims that the funds would be recovered.
Binance said it would absorb the financial impact of the theft rather than pass losses on to users. The exchange also said approximately $3 billion in stolen funds had been frozen in different locations. On Saturday, Binance stated that it had already covered 90% of the affected amount.
Publicly traded crypto companies also came under pressure after the breach became public. Coinbase shares fell more than 13% on Friday, following the company’s report of lower third-quarter revenue. Circle Internet Group declined more than 9%, while Strategy lost about 8%, according to Yahoo Finance data cited in the report.
The selloff extended to Bitcoin miner and data-center operator IREN, whose shares dropped more than 10%, and blockchain financial-services company Figure Technology Solutions, which fell about 9%. The declines followed Binance’s confirmation that hackers had stolen approximately $6.3 billion, described as the largest cryptocurrency theft on record.
Sources: Cointelegraph.