North Korea has rejected the FBI's claim that its state-sponsored hackers stole more than $6 billion from Binance, dismissing the attribution as "absurd rhetoric" and a "grave political provo
North Korea has rejected the FBI's claim that its state-sponsored hackers stole more than $6 billion from Binance, dismissing the attribution as "absurd rhetoric" and a "grave political provocation."
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, issued the statement on Monday through the state-run Korean Central News Agency, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
The denial comes three days after the FBI blamed North Korea for the largest crypto hack on record. TheStreet has covered the breach and its fallout since Thursday. Read our op-ed on the hack.
"The FBI is trying to brand the DPRK as a 'cyber criminal state', claiming that it obtained information that a hacking organization 'supported' by the DPRK was involved in the incident," Kim said. DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"But the U.S. assertion is an absurd rhetoric and nothing new," she said.
She called it "a grave political provocation against the DPRK" that the U.S. "misleads the international public opinion as if all the cyber crimes in different parts of the world are our deeds," and described the attribution as "another grave violation of the sovereignty of the DPRK."
Kim also invoked the last major exchange hack Washington pinned on Pyongyang. "Last year, the U.S. also tried to blame the DPRK for the hacking incident at the cryptocurrency exchange called 'Bybit'," she said.
She went further, suggesting a U.S. motive. Noting that the current administration has said it would confiscate stolen crypto assets for a strategic reserve, she argued the world should examine "who will get the large amount of the so-called stolen cryptocurrency when the latter is retrieved," saying it "may get a clue about who is behind the hacking incident."
"We are closely monitoring a variety of persistent provocations of the U.S. against our state," the statement said, adding that Pyongyang has "issues to reconsider" over what Kim called the "very unpleasant U.S. hostile attitude."
Suspected North Korea-linked actors account for nearly 89% of reported crypto hack losses so far this year, up from 15% in 2021. Source: ChainalysisThe FBI said in an alert on Saturday that North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, on or about Oct. 29.
The bureau tracks the activity as TraderTraitor, its label for North Korean state-sponsored crypto theft teams, and issued the alert with the U.S. Secret Service and the IRS's Criminal Investigation division.
Investigators say they have already watched the actors converting the stolen assets primarily into Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, and expect the funds to be pushed through DeFi platforms and instant swap services as they are prepared for further laundering.
The alert lists hundreds of Ethereum and bitcoin addresses and urges node operators, instant exchanges, DeFi services and blockchain analytics firms to block transactions with, or derived from, the flagged wallets.
How did hackers drain $6.3 billion from Binance in about 20 minutes (3:39)Washington has tied a record exchange hack to Pyongyang before. The FBI used the same TraderTraitor label when it blamed Pyongyang for the $1.5 billion Bybit theft in February 2025, until last week the largest crypto hack ever recorded.
Binance, which disclosed the breach on Thursday, says attackers used a compromised employee laptop to submit unauthorized withdrawal transactions. It estimates the impact at about $6.3 billion and says roughly $3 billion of the stolen funds was frozen on-chain.
The exchange said it has 90% of the affected assets through its corporate treasury, its Secure Asset Fund for Users and its futures insurance fund, and that users will not bear the loss. It is buying the remaining assets through market and over-the-counter channels and says withdrawals are on track to resume within its stated timeframe.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
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