FBI blames North Korea for more than $6 billion Binance crypto theft
publishers 44articles 46first reported 30 Oct, 11:02 UTCdeveloping since 30 Oct · 3 editionstop 25 #7
The FBI said Saturday that North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance on or about Oct. 29, in what is believed to be the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
The agency attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean cyber operation previously blamed for the $1.5 billion theft from the Bybit platform last year. The FBI said the attackers had begun converting stolen assets primarily into Ethereum and were expected to move them through decentralized-finance platforms and instant-swap services as part of further laundering.
Working with the U.S. Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division, the FBI identified digital wallet addresses linked to the operation. It urged cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain operators, analytics firms and other virtual-asset providers to block transactions involving those addresses.
Binance said it would absorb the losses rather than pass them on to users. The company said it had committed more than $6.34 billion of its own funds and had bought replacement tokens covering about 90% of the stolen assets. It said the remaining tokens were less liquid and could take longer to acquire.
The exchange suspended customer withdrawals after what it called a “complex attack” involving several points of breach. Binance said Saturday that withdrawals were on track to resume Sunday. Prices of major cryptocurrencies fell after news of the attack, with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Binance’s BNB token all declining.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 6 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 42 h after the record first saw the story; the editor revised it.
- Publishers
- 44
- Source articles
- 46
- Given to the writer
- 8, 6 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 42 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- revised
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and changed it before publication. Struck words were in the draft; underlined words are its corrections.
WHAT IT FLAGGED editor revise: Revise the lead to avoid attributing the record-size characterization directly to the FBI. - "describing it as the largest cryptocurrency heist on record": The sources characterize the theft as believed or thought to be the largest crypto heist; they do not consistently attribute that description directly to the FBI.
THE DRAFT AND THE CHANGES
FBI blames North Korea for more than $6 billion Binance crypto theft
The FBI said Saturday that North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance on or about Oct. 29, describingin itwhat asis believed to be the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
The agency attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean cyber operation previously blamed for the $1.5 billion theft from the Bybit platform last year. The FBI said the attackers had begun converting stolen assets primarily into Ethereum and were expected to move them through decentralized-finance platforms and instant-swap services as part of further laundering.
Working with the U.S. Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division, the FBI identified digital wallet addresses linked to the operation. It urged cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain operators, analytics firms and other virtual-asset providers to block transactions involving those addresses.
Binance said it would absorb the losses rather than pass them on to users. The company said it had committed more than $6.34 billion of its own funds and had bought replacement tokens covering about 90% of the stolen assets. It said the remaining tokens were less liquid and could take longer to acquire.
The exchange suspended customer withdrawals after what it called a “complex attack” involving several points of breach. Binance said Saturday that withdrawals were on track to resume Sunday. Prices of major cryptocurrencies fell after news of the attack, with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Binance’s BNB token all declining.
Written by a language model from the sources above, then checked by a second model that may only cut, attribute or correct. How it works →