FBI attributes theft of more than $6 billion from Binance to North Korea

The FBI attributed the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange Binance to North Korea in an Oct. 31, 2026, alert. It placed the theft on or about Oct. 29 and called the specific North Korean cyber activity “TraderTraitor.”

The FBI said it and its partners at the Secret Service and the IRS’s criminal division observed TraderTraitor actors converting stolen assets primarily into Ethereum. It expects the assets to be further laundered through DeFi and instant swap services. That next step is the agency’s expectation, not a conversion it reported observing.

The FBI, Secret Service and IRS’s criminal division urged virtual asset businesses, including instant exchanges, DeFi services and blockchain analytics firms, to block transactions with or derived from addresses they identified as being used to launder the stolen assets.