FBI says North Korea behind record $6 billion Binance crypto heist

The FBI announced Saturday that North Korea was behind the cyberattack on Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, in which digital assets worth over $6 billion were stolen, marking the largest crypto heist ever recorded. The FBI attributed the attack to the North Korean-linked hacking group TraderTraitor, which has been responsible for several attacks on crypto companies in recent years. Investigators identified that the attackers began converting stolen assets primarily into Ethereum, and the FBI assesses they will likely attempt to launder the funds through decentralized finance services. Binance stated it has already covered about 90% of the stolen amount and pledged to fully compensate affected customers. The breach has raised renewed questions about digital asset security, following previous North Korean-linked hacks including the $1.5 billion Bybit breach in February 2025 and the $620 million Ronin network theft in 2022.