North Korea Rejects FBI Blame for Record $6.3 Billion Binance Crypto Heist

North Korea has flatly denied involvement in the theft of $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance, calling FBI allegations "absurd rhetoric" after US authorities named Pyongyang as the perpetrator of what is now the largest crypto heist on record. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a senior regime official, issued the denial through state media outlet KCNA, labeling the FBI probe "a trite provocation."

The FBI attributed the attack to North Korean hackers, a conclusion independently supported by blockchain intelligence firms that traced on-chain activity to a North Korean unit. The hack, which struck the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, temporarily suspended withdrawals and affected a broad swath of user assets. Binance said it worked with blockchain partners to freeze roughly $3 billion in affected assets and by Saturday had replaced 90 percent of the stolen funds using company money to buy new tokens, with the remaining 10 percent still outstanding. Trading resumed Sunday.

The incident surpasses the February 2025 Bybit hack, in which $1.5 billion was stolen and which the FBI also attributed to North Korea's TraderTraitor hacking unit. US government agencies and cyber analysts had widely suspected Pyongyang's involvement in the Binance breach almost immediately, given the scale and sophistication of the operation, consistent with North Korea's established pattern of using cyber theft to generate hard currency for the regime.