The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has accused North Korea of stealing more than $6 billion in digital assets from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
In a cybersecurity advisory issued on 31 October, the FBI said the theft occurred on or around 29 October and was carried out by North Korean state-sponsored hackers 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 agency urged virtual asset service providers, including THORNode and RPC node operators, instant exchanges, decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms and blockchain analytics firms, to block transactions associated with the stolen funds.
It specifically called on service providers to block transactions “with or derived from addresses TraderTraitor actors are using to launder these stolen assets”.
The FBI also released a list of Ethereum wallet addresses connected to the incident, stating that the addresses are “holding or have held assets from the theft, and are operated by or closely connected to North Korean TraderTraitor actors”.
The agency encouraged anyone with information about the activity to contact their local FBI field office or file a report through its Internet Crime Complaint Centre.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao credited US law enforcement agencies with helping to trace and freeze assets linked to the theft.
“US Law Enforcement agencies (FBI, USSS, IRS and more) provided vital help in this incident, including tracking, freezing, etc,” Zhao said.
He added that a social media post could not adequately convey his gratitude to the agencies, noting that their intervention may help explain why the incident did not trigger a more significant fall 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 the losses from the hack at $6.3 billion and pledged to cover the full value of the affected assets.