North Korea has denied accusations that it orchestrated the record $6.3 billion cryptocurrency theft from Binance, calling the US allegations “absurd rhetoric” and a political provocation, BBC reports
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a senior government official, rejected the claims in a statement carried by state media on Tuesday. She accused Washington of trying to damage Pyongyang’s international reputation by repeatedly linking the country to cybercrime.
“It is a grave political provocation against the DPRK that the US misleads the international public opinion as if all the cybercrimes in different parts of the world are our deeds,” Kim said.
The denial follows an FBI announcement attributing the theft to North Korea. The agency identified TraderTraitor, a state-backed hacking group also associated with the Lazarus Group, as responsible for the attack, which could represent the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
The FBI has urged cryptocurrency exchanges and other industry partners to identify and block transactions involving digital wallets linked to the group.
North Korea has repeatedly denied involvement in major cyberattacks, despite being linked by international investigators to several high-profile cryptocurrency thefts. TraderTraitor was also blamed for the 2025 Bybit hack, in which approximately $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen.
Researchers have reported that North Korea has developed extensive cyber operations, recruiting skilled students and directing them into hacking units overseen by the country’s intelligence services. Analysts have long accused Pyongyang of using cryptocurrency theft to generate revenue for its sanctioned economy.
Meanwhile, Binance has worked to restore customer confidence after the breach. The exchange said it had replenished approximately 95% of the stolen assets and would cover the remaining losses using company funds.
Binance reported net outflows of approximately $4.72 billion after withdrawals resumed. However, the company said the withdrawals represented a relatively limited portion of its total assets, which stood at around $157 billion.
The exchange said withdrawal activity had begun returning to normal levels. It also confirmed that trading had resumed for major cryptocurrencies after Binance worked with issuers to freeze assets connected to the attack.
Binance initially said a compromised engineer’s laptop llowed attackers to make unauthorized withdrawals. The company has maintained that customers will not bear the financial losses resulting from the incident.
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