FBI ties North Korea to $6.3B Binance crypto heist
The FBI said Saturday that North Korean hackers orchestrated the theft of $6.3 billion from Binance, the largest crypto heist in history, attributing the attack to an entity called TraderTraitor. The bureau urged exchanges and analytics firms to block linked transactions to prevent laundering. The same actors were behind a $1.5 billion Bybit hack last year, and the FBI found they are converting stolen assets primarily into ethereum. TraderTraitor is expected to use decentralized finance and instant swap services to launder funds, likely breaking them into smaller pieces. Binance said it has reserved enough digital currency to cover 90% of the missing assets and promised full customer reimbursement. Crypto experts noted the heist occurred within minutes, with tracking efforts expected to unfold over months.