FBI accuses North Korea of stealing $6bn from Binance

Official accusation from Washington

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has officially held North Korea responsible for the large-scale theft of virtual assets. According to the agency, funds totalling over $6 billion were withdrawn from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. This information is contained in a press release from the FBI.

Identification of the perpetrators

The investigation established that the TraderTraitor group was involved in the crime. US specialists characterise it as an elite hacking unit operating under the auspices of the DPRK.

Money laundering scheme

The FBI, acting jointly with the US Secret Service (USSS) and the Criminal Investigation division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS-CI), analysed the methods used to conceal the origin of the stolen funds. It emerged that the perpetrators predominantly convert the stolen assets into Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrency.

According to US law enforcement estimates, the next step will be laundering the funds through exchanges on decentralised finance (DeFi) services and instant cryptocurrency swap platforms. These operations are viewed as preparation for further stages of legitimising the stolen assets.