The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has attributed the recent $6 billion hack on cryptocurrency exchange Binance to North Korea's TraderTraitor group. According to the FBI, the group carried out the theft, estimated to be over $6 billion in virtual assets. Binance's co-chief executives, Yi He and Richard Teng, later confirmed the loss at roughly $6.3 billion, citing tracing firms that placed the figure between $6.36 billion and $6.43 billion across multiple blockchains.
Binance began processing customer withdrawals on Sunday morning, three days after attackers emptied its hot wallets, starting with Bitcoin at 09:20 Kenyan time and adding Ethereum-based tokens shortly after. The exchange says about half of the stolen assets are frozen stablecoins, while the remainder, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, cannot be blocked and remain with the attacker. This development comes as a relief to users who were unable to access their funds during the withdrawal pause.
The FBI, together with the US Secret Service and IRS criminal investigators, has published the attacker's addresses and is requesting exchanges and DeFi services to block related transactions. This joint effort aims to prevent further illicit activities and potentially recover some of the stolen assets. The incident highlights the need for increased security measures and cooperation between law enforcement agencies and cryptocurrency exchanges.
Binance has set aside more than $6.34 billion from its own treasury and the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) to cover the loss, reporting that coverage rose from 80% on Friday to 95% by Sunday. The exchange's Proof of Reserves snapshot taken on Saturday shows a near-exact match between its Ethereum hot-wallet holdings and customer balances, suggesting that the stolen ETH was part of Binance's own reserve pool.
The incident coincides with Kenya's crypto licensing deadline on 4 November, when local operators must demonstrate segregation of customer assets, a requirement Binance aims to prove with its upcoming reserves report. Kenyan users of Binance's peer-to-peer market continued to trade USDT for M-Pay, with ads listing rates around KES 130 per USDT during the withdrawal pause.
Binance warned that withdrawals of other tokens will resume in phases after security checks, and it urged users to retry failed attempts while the full Proof of Reserves report is expected by Tuesday, 3 November. The exchange is taking steps to ensure the security of its platform and prevent similar incidents in the future.
The hack and subsequent withdrawal pause have raised concerns about the security of cryptocurrency exchanges and the need for robust security measures. The incident also highlights the importance of regulatory compliance and the need for exchanges to demonstrate transparency and accountability in their operations.
Key points
- The FBI attributes the $6 billion Binance hack to North Korea's TraderTraitor group.
- Binance has set aside over $6.34 billion to cover the loss.
- The incident coincides with Kenya's crypto licensing deadline on 4 November.
