North Korea rejects accusations over $6.3bn Binance hack
Pyongyang has denied responsibility for the record cryptocurrency theft as Binance says it has covered around 95% of the stolen assets.
By Kofi Greco ·
North Korea has rejected accusations that it orchestrated the $6.3bn (£4.7bn) theft from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, an attack described as the largest hack in history. US authorities and cyber analysts have attributed the breach to North Korea, while the exchange has pledged to cover all losses associated with it.
Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and director of the country's General Affairs Department, dismissed the allegations on Tuesday as "absurd rhetoric". She accused the United States of trying to damage Pyongyang's reputation and misleading international opinion by portraying North Korea as responsible for cyber crimes around the world.
The FBI, the US Secret Service and cyber analysts have said North Korea was behind the Binance attack. Blockchain analysts and the FBI identified the state-backed hacking group TraderTraitor as responsible. The FBI has asked industry partners to help prevent transactions involving cryptocurrency accounts associated with the group.
The allegations add to a series of major cyber attacks attributed to Pyongyang in recent years, all of which it has denied. North Korea has been accused of using cyber-crime to support its economy under sanctions. TraderTraitor, also known as the Lazarus Group, was previously blamed for the $1.5bn theft from cryptocurrency exchange Bybit in 2025, which was a record at the time.
Research organisations, including the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies think tank, have said North Korea has developed its cyber capabilities through a systematic recruitment programme. According to those groups, promising university students are recruited and sent to hacking units supervised by the country's intelligence agency. Pyongyang has consistently rejected those accounts, and Kim said its government opposes malicious activity in cyberspace.
Binance's public comments since the theft have largely addressed how the breach happened and what the company is doing to protect customers. It said preliminary checks suggested an engineer's laptop had been compromised, allowing an attacker to carry out unauthorised withdrawals. The BBC has approached the exchange for comment.
After halting all transactions following the attack, Binance worked with issuers to freeze affected assets. Trading in major cryptocurrencies has subsequently resumed. The company said on Sunday that customers had withdrawn more than $3.6bn in assets as the exchange reopened.
Binance has repeatedly promised to cover the full losses arising from the breach. It says it has already covered around 95% of the assets stolen in the attack.
Source: BBC News
