FBI blames North Korea for historic 6 billion dollar Binance crypto heist

The FBI officially accused North Korea on Saturday of stealing billions of dollars from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. DW, ABC News Australia, South China Morning Post, and rte.ie all reported that the United States law enforcement agency blamed the Asian nation for the major cyberattack. Outlets differed slightly on the total figure, with DW and rte.ie reporting over 6 billion dollars stolen, while ABC News Australia cited 6.3 billion dollars. [1][2][3][4]

DW, ABC News Australia, and South China Morning Post reported that the attack was carried out by a state-sponsored entity known as TraderTraitor. DW and South China Morning Post noted that the FBI linked the same unit to a 1.5 billion dollar hack on Bybit last year. DW said the theft took place on or about October 29, 2026, and unfolded within a matter of minutes, taking bitcoin, ethereum, and stablecoins. [1][2][3]

Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao and operates as the largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume. As FTMQ News reported earlier, Binance responded to the breach by using its corporate reserves to replenish 90 percent of the stolen funds to cover user losses. [4][14][16][17]

The stolen assets represent the largest single cryptocurrency heist in history, according to reports by DW, ABC News Australia, South China Morning Post, and rte.ie. According to rte.ie, Binance has offered reassurances to users, stating that it has used internal corporate funds to purchase tokens to cover the vast majority of the missing assets. [1][2][3][4]