FBI Identifies North Korea as the Force Behind the Largest-Ever Crypto Hack

【Financial News, New York—Lee Byung-cheol, Correspondent】  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has officially identified North Korea as being behind the $6.3 billion (about 9 trillion won) hack of Binance, the world’s largest crypto-asset exchange. This marks the first time U.S. law enforcement authorities have confirmed North Korea’s involvement in the largest crypto-asset theft on record. Concerns are also mounting over the possibility of large-scale money laundering, particularly after signs emerged that North Korean hackers were converting the stolen assets into Ethereum.
The FBI said in a statement on the 31st (local time) that the North Korean hacking group ‘TraderTraitor’ led the Binance hack. TraderTraitor is reportedly another name for the Lazarus Group, a hacking organization backed by the North Korean regime.
The FBI said it had detected signs that North Korean hackers were converting the stolen crypto assets into Ethereum and expected further money laundering to take place. Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis also said it had found a new money-laundering pattern in the attack that had not been observed before.
The investigation into the hacking method is ongoing. Binance initially raised the possibility that unauthorized withdrawals occurred after an engineer’s laptop was hacked. However, it later said additional points of entry had been identified, prompting concerns that the attack route may have been more complex than initially reported.
The losses in this incident far exceed those from the Bybit hack in February last year. North Korean hackers stole crypto assets worth $1.5 billion from Bybit at the time. The losses in the Binance hack are at least four times that amount.
Since the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, North Korea’s cyberattacks have expanded into large-scale theft targeting financial institutions and crypto exchanges. In 2016, hackers attacked an account belonging to Bangladesh Bank that was held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, siphoning off $81 million. U.S. authorities believe North Korea also stole $620 million from the blockchain game Axie Infinity in 2022.
Some analysts say that North Korea continues to use cyberattacks as a key means of earning foreign currency despite strong international sanctions. A 2024 UN Panel of Experts estimated that North Korea earns about half of its total foreign-currency income through cyberattacks. The international community is concerned that these funds are supporting North Korea’s military and nuclear weapons development programs.
The FBI’s announcement has once again brought North Korea’s crypto-asset hacking into focus as a major issue threatening international financial markets and security, beyond mere cybercrime.

[email protected] Lee Byung-cheol, Correspondent Reporter