The FBI said on Saturday that North Korea's state-sponsored TraderTraitor unit carried out the $6.3 billion theft from Binance. Reuters reported the attribution as the exchange prepared to reopen withdrawals. AFP said the bureau confirmed suspicions already voiced by private investigators. The Guardian said Binance's own Saturday update still had 90% of the loss covered, before Sunday's figure moved to 95%. The withdrawal restart is in today's business story. Friday's account of the breach is here.
The FBI says stolen coins are being converted into ether
Law enforcement observed members of the unit converting stolen assets into ether, Reuters said, citing the FBI statement. The bureau said it expected further laundering through related technology, including decentralised finance platforms and swap services. It urged crypto businesses to block transactions involving identified addresses. Investing.com said Chainalysis warned that thousands of wallets were already involved. TRM Labs told Reuters that attackers stole $2.9 billion across nearly 150 attacks last year. TRM Labs and Chainalysis had already said they were highly confident the Thursday theft, most of it in about 20 minutes, matched earlier North Korean operations, including the 2025 Bybit case.
President Trump said Washington is not yet sure it was North Korea
President Donald Trump told reporters on Saturday that the United States still did not know whether North Korea was involved, and that Washington would talk to Pyongyang if it was. Reuters said the comments were posted by a White House account on X. North Korea has for years denied using state-linked cyber units for financial theft. Its mission in Geneva and its embassy in China did not respond to requests for comment, Reuters said. An FBI attribution is an investigative finding. It is not a court judgment, and it does not move frozen coins back to customers. Anyone offered a paid "recovery" tied to this case should use the recovery desk checklist before sending a fee. More policy coverage is on the regulation desk. Bitcoin's Sunday price is in the markets lead.