US Authorities Freeze $2.7 Billion in Binance Crypto Linked to North Korean Hack

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng told FOX Business’ Darren Botelho that customers would not suffer losses after a $6.3 billion hack, stressing that the exchange accepted full responsibility and restored affected assets.

Federal authorities and private-sector partners have frozen more than $2.7 billion in cryptocurrency stolen during a large North Korean cyberattack on Binance. The exchange said it has fully covered the assets affected by last month’s multibillion-dollar breach.

The Justice Department said Thursday that the frozen funds were part of more than $6 billion in digital assets taken from Binance during an Oct. 29 cyberattack attributed to North Korean hackers.

Federal officials have also obtained court authorization to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion of those assets as investigators continue tracing and recovering the remaining funds stolen from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Binance separately said it had completed covering assets affected by the security incident, which had an estimated total impact of about $6.3 billion, and published an updated Proof of Reserves snapshot.

Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, during the DC Blockchain Summit in Washington, D.C., March 26, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“To our users and community: thank you for your patience and understanding,” Binance wrote on X.

Federal investigators attributed the theft to North Korean military hackers operating under the name “TraderTraitor.”

The Justice Department said the group stole more than $6 billion in virtual assets from the exchange on or around Oct. 29 in what has been described as one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts on record.

Authorities said the hackers have continued attempting to move stolen funds through cryptocurrency exchanges, bridges and mixing services designed to obscure the movement of digital assets.

Federal investigators attributed the theft of more than $6 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance to North Korean military hackers operating under the name “TraderTraitor.” (KCNA via Reuters / Reuters)

“By springing into action at a moment’s notice, we worked together to freeze this massive criminal fraud in its tracks,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in a statement, adding that authorities had secured court authorization to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion in stolen assets.

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng previously told FOX Business that the company had closed the entry points exploited by the hackers and rebuilt affected systems.

The exchange said the attack began with a fraudulent job interview that compromised an employee’s computer before hackers exploited internal systems to execute unauthorized cryptocurrency transactions.

The update came as the Justice Department separately announced that investigators disrupted a North Korean hacking operation known as “FaceStealer,” which authorities linked to more than $400 million in cryptocurrency thefts over the past 18 months.

Federal authorities and private sector partners have frozen more than $2.7 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance during a massive cyberattack attributed to North Korean hackers. (Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Using deceptive video calls, secretly recorded webcam footage and artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes, the operation tricked victims into installing malicious software, according to the Justice Department.

The FBI said hackers impersonated trusted contacts during video meetings before presenting victims with fake technical problems that required clicking a malicious link.

Federal investigators also seized more than 900 webcam videos of victims as part of the operation.

The FBI warned that the scheme increasingly targets not only cryptocurrency investors and industry professionals but also developers who maintain open-source software, potentially exposing broader technology systems to cyberattacks.

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