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North Korea denies links to Binance hack as researchers trace stolen billions

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

North Korean official Kim Yo Jong condemned the FBI for blaming the TraderTraitor hacking syndicate, framing the claim as an attempt to portray the country as a criminal state. Blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic reported that the culprits deployed decentralized platforms, cross-chain bridges, and mixers to conceal funds across networks like Solana, Tron, and Ethereum. Despite those laundering techniques, investigators have already managed to seize or freeze roughly $2.85 billion of the $6.43 billion taken. Binance has restored customer withdrawals in stages after covering 95% of the affected balances.

Key points

  • North Korean leadership rejected United States cybercrime allegations regarding the massi…: North Korean leadership rejected United States cybercrime allegations regarding the massive cryptocurrency platform exploit.
  • Complex laundering tactics across decentralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges have fa…: Complex laundering tactics across decentralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges have failed to prevent authorities from locking down billions in stolen funds.
  • Full liquidation of the remaining billions held in bitcoin and ether is expected to take…: Full liquidation of the remaining billions held in bitcoin and ether is expected to take months due to heavy monitoring.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

North Korea rejected U.S. allegations linking Pyongyang to the estimated $6.3 billion Binance hack, calling the accusation a “grave political provocation,” according to state media.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, denounced the FBI's attribution of the attack to North Korea-linked hacking group TraderTraitor, Yohnap reported Tuesday, citing the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

"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, according to KCNA.

She accused Washington of misleading international public opinion by portraying cybercrimes around the world as the work of North Korea.

The denial comes as blockchain analytics firms trace billions of dollars in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance through thousands of wallets across multiple blockchains.

Elliptic and Chainalysis said hackers linked to North Korea have used increasingly complex techniques to obscure the trail of the funds.

In the first four days after the attack, the hackers used roughly 12,000 wallets across 11 blockchains and conducted more than…

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