North Korea rejects FBI accusation over billion-dollar Binance theft
Kim Yo Jong calls the accusation a “serious political provocation”, while Binance says it has replaced 95% of the assets affected by the attack.
BY THE X-TRADER NEWS NEWSROOM · REPORTING FROM ESTADÃO · 3 MIN
North Korea has rejected FBI accusations that it participated in the hacker attack on the Binance brokerage. The reaction came on Tuesday, 3rd, according to Estadão. The FBI attributes the theft of around US$6 billion to the regime, a figure cited by Estadão and Times Brasil. Bloomberg, via InfoMoney, speaks of US$6.3 billion.
The harshest response came from Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un's sister, in a statement released by KCNA. According to Estadão, she classified the accusation as “absurd rhetoric and nothing new” and called it a “serious political provocation” against the DPRK. Kim also recalled previous accusations from the United States regarding the attack on Bybit last year.
According to Bloomberg, reproduced by InfoMoney, the FBI attributes the theft to the North Korean group TraderTraitor. The same report brings a contrast: North Korea has a hacker army with thousands of members, but experts say TraderTraitor may only have about a dozen members.
The case gains weight because, according to the report, artificial intelligence gave the group a new tool to finance the military expansion of the country, which has nuclear weapons. This point shifts the episode from the cryptocurrency market to international security, as it associates stolen money with military financing.
On Binance's side, the company claims to have replaced 95% of the value of the affected assets, with its own resources. The remaining 5%, according to the broker, are less liquid assets. The reset included BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD and ZEC, and Binance says they are all 100% backed.
So far, the debate is about authorship. Washington points to the North Korean regime, and Pyongyang denies it. The facts established do not provide independent verification of who carried out the attack, and the dispute remains open.
What changes for the investor
For those who operate crypto or follow companies in the sector, the episode reinforces attention to the risk of custody in brokers, a factor that enters the decision on where to keep assets. The most important fact is that the remaining 5% are less liquid assets, a reminder that not all assets are equally easy to negotiate. The facts found do not indicate a direct effect on prices, and the assessment of the risk of each exposure is up to the investor himself.
Automatically translated from Portuguese.
