FBI says North Korea was behind the $6.3 billion Binance crypto hack

Crypto exchange Binance said Saturday it has been able to replace 90% of the amount stolen after a $6.3 billion hack of its platform that the FBI blamed on North Korea. Binance said it was able to replace the funds taken in the record hack by using company money to buy new tokens. The remaining 10% consists of tokens that are less liquid, meaning they may take longer to buy, it said in a statement posted on X. "We've now replenished 90% of the stolen assets, and we're committed to covering the remaining 10%. Our users will not bear the financial impact of this incident," co-CEO Richard Teng said on X. Crypto prices fell Friday, while Binance — the world's biggest crypto exchange — sought to reassure customers that their funds were safe. The FBI on Saturday said the North Korean state-sponsored unit known as TraderTraitor was responsible for the attack. Members of the unit were observed by law enforcement converting stolen assets into the cryptocurrency ethereum, the FBI said in a statement, adding that it expects "further laundering" of the assets through the use of related technology. Teng said Friday that the breach was a "complex attack" involving a compromised laptop and malicious software designed to delete evidence of its activity, making it harder to trace and investigate. After the hack, the exchange stopped allowing customers to withdraw their funds, but it said Saturday it was still on track to reopen withdrawals Sunday. Binance said it has set aside around $6.34 billion of company funds internally to cover the losses. The money spent re-buying tokens came from using part of its $1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), a bitcoin reserve it holds to protect customers in the event of security breaches, as well as some of its Futures Insurance Fund, and the company's own corporate treasury, it said on X. Binance also said it had taken a new snapshot of assets held on its platform as of 0000 GMT Saturday, as part of its proof-of-reserves process. Users holding the 10 listed tokens — BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, USDC, XRP, USD1, RLUSD, and ZEC — would be able to verify that their assets were backed at a minimum ratio of 1:1 once the full proof was available, it said.