The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said on October 31 that North Korea was behind the theft of roughly $6.3 billion in assets from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, according to 時事ドットコム. The FBI identified the North Korean hacking group known as TraderTraitor as the actor that has been laundering the stolen funds.
Investigators confirmed that TraderTraitor converted part of the proceeds into cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, and the FBI warned that further laundering may still be under way. The incident is believed to be the largest crypto theft on record.
Binance has said it will cover all losses. On October 31 the exchange reported that it had replaced about 90 percent of the shortfall in customer-backed assets tied to the $6.3 billion outflow, and it planned to have customer withdrawals working by November 1, 時事ドットコム reports.
The investigation also turned up signs that a developer's laptop may have been compromised, along with evidence of more than one point of entry. Binance said the breach did not appear to be the work of a single attacker.
The scale of the loss had earlier led to suspicion that a North Korean hacking group was responsible, a view the FBI's announcement now formalizes.
What to watch next: whether the FBI and Binance trace more of the laundered funds, and whether customer withdrawals resume on the exchange's stated timeline.
