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North Korea denies role in $6.3B Binance hack, points finger at US
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Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, denied North Korea’s involvement in the $6.3 billion Binance hack. In a KCNA statement on Tuesday, she rejected the FBI’s attribution of the attack to a North Korean-backed hacking group. She called the U.S. allegation “absurd rhetoric and nothing new.”
She described the claim as a political provocation intended to damage North Korea’s international standing. Kim said Washington was trying to brand the DPRK a “cyber criminal state.” She also rejected FBI blame for the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in February 2025.
The statement offered no evidence linking Washington to the Binance attack. Kim said investigators should examine who would receive the stolen cryptocurrency if recovered. She argued that this could reveal who was behind the hacking. Cointelegraph said it had contacted the FBI for comment.
Investigators have linked the Binance theft to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group. TRM Labs attributed the attack to the group with high confidence last week, citing onchain and offchain intelligence. Chainalysis and ZachXBT also connected the theft to North Korean hackers.
TRM Labs cited similarities with earlier North Korean attacks, including advance preparation and use of Tornado Cash to fund attacker wallets. It also noted the coordinated execution of previously obtained transaction signatures. The firm said laundering activity differed from the pattern after the Bybit hack.
ZachXBT identified a connection between the Binance and Bitget hacks. Stolen funds from both incidents were commingled at the same address after passing through THORChain, he said. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said preliminary findings linked IP addresses to VPN services used “by a certain DPRK group.”
The dispute highlights tensions over cryptocurrency theft and state-linked cybercrime. North Korea’s denial comes as U.S. authorities and blockchain investigators attribute major exchange breaches to Pyongyang. The FBI has not publicly responded to Kim’s statement.
