Hacker attack: FBI: North Korean hackers are behind billions in crypto theft

According to US Federal Police, North Korean hackers from the TraderTraitor group are behind the world's largest digital heist. Binance wants to start paying out again.

San Jose/Bangalore. According to the FBI, North Korea is behind the billion-dollar hacker attack on the largest digital currency exchange Binance. The US Federal Police released information that the attack was carried out by North Korean hackers from the TraderTraitor group.

The analysis company TRM Labs had previously attributed the crime to the group. The FBI called on companies to block deposits and withdrawals from certain addresses. This is intended to prevent the group from laundering the stolen assets.

According to the FBI, more than six billion dollars (a good 5.37 billion euros) are involved. Binance had previously announced that all deposits and withdrawals had been temporarily suspended.

Binance announced that 90 percent of the total stolen amount was now covered by the currency exchange itself. This happens, for example, through buybacks. “Binance will bear the financial impact of these stolen assets, not our users,” the company said in a statement.

Payouts to users are expected to be possible again from Sunday. According to TRM's findings, the attackers moved a large portion of the $6.36 billion within 20 minutes. It was the largest-scale attack on a digital currency exchange.

In the most serious attack to date, around $1.5 billion in digital currencies were stolen on the Bybit exchange at the beginning of 2025. This attack was also attributed to the North Korean hacker group.