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The FBI said on Saturday that TraderTraitor, a North Korean state hacking group also tracked as Jade Sleet and UNC4899, carried out last week's theft from Binance, which it put at "more than $6 billion" taken across 11 blockchains.
Binance said the same day it had covered up to 90% of user losses from its SAFU reserve, part of its futures insurance fund and its corporate treasury, with its ten largest assets fully backed.
It began reopening withdrawals in phases on Sunday morning, Bitcoin first, then Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain.
Covering a loss is not getting the money back. Tether, Circle, Ripple, Arbitrum and Optimism have frozen about $2.85 billion on-chain, and the FBI says the rest, converted mostly into Ether, will move next through decentralized-finance and instant-swap services. The total is $6.3 billion by Binance's count and $6.43 billion by The Hacker News. The Financial Times reports that Chainalysis saw automated laundering patterns it had not seen before; that report is paywalled and was not opened, and the FBI page refused our fetch.
The FBI blames North Korea for the $6.3 billion Binance theft as withdrawals restart
The FBI said on Saturday that TraderTraitor, a North Korean state hacking group also tracked as Jade Sleet and UNC4899, carried out last week's theft from Binance, which it put at "more than $6 billion" taken across 11 blockchains. Binance said the same day it had covered up to 90% of user losses from its SAFU reserve, part of its futures insurance fund and its corporate treasury, with its ten largest assets fully backed. It began reopening withdrawals in phases on Sunday morning, Bitcoin first, then Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain.
Covering a loss is not getting the money back. Tether, Circle, Ripple, Arbitrum and Optimism have frozen about $2.85 billion on-chain, and the FBI says the rest, converted mostly into Ether, will move next through decentralized-finance and instant-swap services. The total is $6.3 billion by Binance's count and $6.43 billion by The Hacker News ?. The Financial Times reports that Chainalysis saw automated laundering patterns it had not seen before; that report is paywalled and was not opened, and the FBI page refused our fetch. SourcesABB
Sources
- ANorth Korea responsible for $6 billion-plus Binance attack (FBI, could not be opened)fbi.gov
- BBinance resumes withdrawals following $6.3 billion hack (CNBC)cnbc.com
- BFBI links North Korea's TraderTraitor to record Binance heist (The Hacker News)thehackernews.com
This story ran in the Morning Brief of November 1st 2026.