TraderTraitor Converting Binance’s $6.3B into Ethereum as FBI Confirms North Korea Was Behind Biggest Crypto Heist in History

North Korean hackers were behind the theft of billions of dollars from Binance in a matter of minutes, in what the FBI described as the largest cryptocurrency heist in history, the bureau said on Saturday. In a statement, the FBI linked this week’s attack to “malicious cyber activity” carried out by a group known as TraderTraitor.

The same actors were also blamed for last year’s $1.5 billion hack of Bybit, the Federal agency said. The bureau has also urged cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain analytics firms and other industry players to immediately block transactions associated with several identified addresses to prevent the stolen funds from being laundered to cover up their origins.

Loopholes Being Identified

The FBI said its investigation found that TraderTraitor was converting the stolen funds mainly into Ethereum. The bureau also warned that the hackers were expected to move the assets through decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and “instant swap services.”

Binance estimated the total losses from the attack at nearly $6.3 billion, describing it as one of the most serious security breaches on record.

TraderTraitor is believed to be linked to the Lazarus Group, which came under international scrutiny in 2014 after being accused of hacking Sony Pictures. The attack was reportedly retaliation for The Interview, a film that mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

However, President Donald Trump appeared to suggest that North Korea’s involvement had not been conclusively established. Speaking to reporters Saturday night at a Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump said: “I’m not concerned. We’re learning about it,” Trump said of the case.

“We don’t know if it’s North Korea.” Though he added that, it could yet be determined that it was.

“But if it is, we’ll talk to North Korea about it.”

Trump added: “I’ve always felt it was a little bit dangerous. But they say they have it pretty much under control. We’ll see.”

Investigation Still Ongoing

In a video message on Friday, Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said the company was working around the clock to address the breach and would cover all losses resulting from the hack. He also reassured traders that their “assets were safe.”

Teng called it a sophisticated cyberattack. “This was a complex attack,” he said, adding that the attacker had deployed a self-destruct mechanism that made tracing the activity difficult.

Crypto expert Ari Redbord predicted that the hackers would split the stolen funds into smaller amounts and move them through smaller exchanges to avoid detection. He said the laundering process could take several months.

“It’s bank robbery, in this case, at the speed of the Internet,” said Redbord, chief policy officer at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. “However, we can also track and trace those funds in real time in order to build investigations, to disrupt and to seize back funds.”

“It’s just this cat and mouse game.,” he added.