North Korea has denied responsibility for the theft of more than $6 billion from Binance, after the FBI attributed the October 29 cryptocurrency attack to North Korean hackers. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, called the U.S. allegation a “grave political provocation” and “absurd rhetoric,” according to state media.
The FBI said on October 31 that the theft was carried out by actors associated with TraderTraitor, a hacking group it links to North Korea. The agency also published cryptocurrency addresses it said were connected to the attackers. Pyongyang has rejected the accusation; the supplied information does not independently establish who was responsible.
Blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs estimated the stolen assets at about $6.36 billion. It said most of the funds were moved within roughly 20 minutes of the attack, which affected Binance wallets across multiple networks.
Binance gradually restores withdrawals
Binance said it began reopening withdrawals for additional assets at 04:00 UTC on November 3. The gradual rollout covers assets on networks including BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Sui, as well as selected tokens on Arbitrum, Optimism, Tron and Base. Availability may vary by asset and network.
The exchange said it had replenished about 95% of the affected value using its own funds. That figure describes the company’s stated replacement of customer assets, not recovery of 95% of the stolen cryptocurrency. Binance’s withdrawal update said the remaining portion involved less-liquid tokens.
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