In brief
The FBI’s Saturday statement identified a North Korean group, TraderTraitor, as responsible for the largest cryptocurrency theft ever, converting the stolen assets mainly into Ethereum. Binance announced it has used its SAFU and other reserves to replace 90% of the stolen value. Crypto markets slipped as the exchange sought to reassure customers.
The FBI said Saturday that a North‑Korean cyber gang known as TraderTraitor stole a record $6.3 billion in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange Binance and moved the funds largely into Ethereum. In the statement, the agency urged virtual asset service providers to block transactions linked to the laundering operation, providing several digital addresses to monitor.
The FBI’s claim follows a previous $1.5 billion theft from the Bybit platform in February last year, which was attributed to the same group. The bureau said the stolen assets are expected to be “further laundered” in stages.
Binance covers 90% of losses
Binance announced on X that it had replaced 90 percent of the value stolen by buying new tokens using company reserves.
“We will continue to buy the remaining relevant token assets… until the covered amount reaches 100 percent for all tokens. Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users,”
The money spent on buying tokens came from a $1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), a Bitcoin reserve fund that Binance keeps to protect customers in the event of security breaches, as well as from its Futures Insurance Fund and corporate treasury. Binance said it would keep buying until the covered amount reaches 100 percent for all tokens.
Crypto prices fell on Friday as Binance, the world’s largest exchange, made the announcement and sought to reassure customers that their funds were safe.
