North Korea Rejects FBI Blame for $6.3B Binance Hack

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has dismissed the FBI's attribution of the $6.3 billion Binance theft to Pyongyang, calling the bureau's probe a "political provocation." Yonhap News Agency carried her remarks, in which she also said North Korea is "closely monitoring" the situation.

She has also been quoted describing the US accusation as "absurd rhetoric." Whether that phrase comes from the same remarks or a separate statement has not been made clear.

Hours before her comments surfaced, state news agency KCNA called the theft claims a "fabrication."

The denials answer the FBI's October 31 finding, detailed in our earlier coverage and in our report on the attribution, that TraderTraitor carried out the October 29 attack, the North Korean group the bureau tied to the $1.5 billion Bybit theft in February 2025.

Funds remain on US blocklists

The $6.3 billion stays on US blocklists despite Pyongyang's position. The FBI has published wallet addresses linked to the theft and urged crypto firms to refuse transactions from them, and US agencies are still asking exchanges to block wallets tied to the stolen funds. The bureau said the hackers were swapping most of the stolen assets into ETH.

Chainalysis, which along with TRM Labs has linked the attack to North Korea, said the stolen funds mixed with proceeds of an earlier exploit. The finding, as reported, does not identify that exploit or explain how the commingling affects tracing.

"political provocation"

Kim Yo-jong, on the FBI probe into the Binance hack

Binance resumes withdrawals

Binance has resumed crypto withdrawals after saying it covered about 95% of customer losses. Security researchers describe the hack as the largest crypto theft on record.