North Korea has denied that state-sponsored cyber criminals raided approximately $6.3 in cryptocurrencies from Binance, publicly rejecting the findings after the FBI formally accused a North Korean cyber unit known as TraderTraitor of executing the record-breaking attack. It comes as investigators track billions of dollars in stolen crypto moving across blockchains, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and swap services.

North Korea Rejects FBI Attribution for the Binance Hack

Kim Yo Jong, a senior North Korean official and the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, dismissed the U.S. allegation as politically motivated and described the FBI's claim as "absurd rhetoric," according to statements carried by North Korean state media.

According to the FBI, the hackers were involved in stealing more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance in an attack that took place around October 29. Binance separately pegged the estimated loss at approximately $6.3 billion, a figure that makes the incident one of the largest ever recorded in the cryptocurrency security space.

U.S. investigators have concluded that the operation, known as TraderTraitor, is connected to North Korea's crypto-related hacking efforts.

Stolen Crypto Is Being Shifted Into Ether

The FBI stated that it has observed the attackers turning the stolen assets into Ether, and estimates that the unit is moving large volumes of cryptocurrency in the wake of the attack, with more conversions anticipated through DeFi venues and instant-swap platforms.

Authorities have requested that crypto exchanges, DeFi services, blockchain analytics firms, and other participants in the industry freeze transactions coming from wallets of dubious origin linked to the attackers.

According to a Reuters report, more than $1.1 billion in USDC value had been frozen as of Nov. 2, while approximately $3.28 billion worth of Bitcoin and Ether remained in the hands of the hackers. The composition of those figures highlights a structural difference in how asset types respond to freeze orders: centralized stablecoins such as USDC can be immobilized at the token level by their issuer, whereas Bitcoin and Ether sitting in attacker-controlled wallets have no comparable freeze mechanism, leaving recovery to depend on exchanges and service providers honoring the authorities' requests.

Binance Covers Losses as Billions Leave the Exchange

The incident also triggered significant outflows from Binance as customers moved funds off the platform after the attack. Withdrawals were restarted in stages, and customers withdrew a net $4.72 billion, with approximately $2.7 billion flowing back in following the reopening. Binance said the withdrawals accounted for about 3% of all assets on the platform and that outflows were beginning to level off.

The exchange has stated numerous times that users will not bear any financial burden from the incident. According to Binance, roughly 95% of the amount had been covered as of Nov. 2. Its latest Proof of Reserves update showed the percentage of tokens backed at 1:1 for ETC, USDT, BTC, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, and ZEC. Together, the coverage commitment and the reserves figures address depositor concerns after an episode that saw billions of dollars leave the platform.

Investigators Focus on the Laundering Trail

How much of the remaining cryptocurrency can be frozen before it is dispersed among more wallets, chains, and liquidity markets is now the main issue facing investigators. The transparency that blockchain transactions provide enables them to follow a trail of transfers across public ledgers. The challenge, however, is speed: once funds pass through cross-chain infrastructure, decentralized exchanges, and instant-swap services, recovering the stolen assets becomes considerably more difficult.

The FBI said it expects TraderTraitor to continue attempting to obscure the origin of the stolen funds as the laundering process develops.

Source: Crypto Ninjas