FBI Blames North Korea for $6.3 Billion Binance Crypto Hack, Says Stolen Assets Being Converted into Ethereum
The FBI stated that it has observed 'TraderTraitor' actors converting stolen assets primarily into Ethereum (ETH).
By ETV Bharat English Team
Published: November 1, 2026 at 6:57 AM IST
Read Time: 2 Min
New Delhi:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed that the massive theft of billions of dollars from Binance within minutes earlier this week was carried out by North Korean hackers.
The bureau revealed in a statement that the attack, the largest cryptocurrency heist in history, was linked to "malicious cyber activity" by TraderTraitor, the same actors behind the $1.5 billion Bybit hack last year.
"The FBI is releasing information advising that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion USD in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, on or about October 29, 2026. The FBI refers to this specific North Korean malicious cyber activity as 'TraderTraitor'," the premier US intelligence agency said.
The FBI noted that it, along with partners at the USSS and IRS-CI, has observed TraderTraitor actors converting stolen assets mainly 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," it added.
The FBI urged crypto exchanges, blockchain analytics companies, and others to block transactions linked to various addresses to prevent the money from being laundered to conceal its origins.
"FBI, USSS, and IRS-CI are urging private sector entities including THORNode operators, RPC node operators, instant exchanges, DeFi services, blockchain analytics firms, and other virtual asset service providers to block transactions with or derived from addresses TraderTraitor actors are using to launder these stolen assets," the statement said.
The FBI also shared a list of Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Solana cryptocurrency addresses that hold or have held assets from the theft and are operated by or closely connected to North Korean TraderTraitor actors.
Crypto expert Ari Redbord told Associated Press that the hackers are likely to break the stolen assets into smaller pieces and attempt to launder them through lesser-known exchanges to evade detection, a process that could take months.
"It’s bank robbery, in this case, at the speed of the Internet," said Redbord, chief policy officer at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. "However, we can also track and trace those funds in real-time in order to build investigations, to disrupt, and to seize back funds. It’s just this cat and mouse game."
On Thursday, $6.3 billion in bitcoin and other digital currencies was stolen from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, raising suspicions of a North Korean hack.
The company stated on Saturday that it had set aside enough of the same digital currency to cover 90% of the missing assets and promised that customers would be fully reimbursed.