North Korea has forcefully rejected U.S. accusations that state-backed hackers orchestrated a massive digital heist draining more than $6 billion from cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, characterized the American claims as “a grave political provocation,” according to the official state media agency KCNA. She further dismissed the U.S. allegations as “absurd rhetoric and nothing new.”
The diplomatic backlash follows an announcement over the weekend by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which formally blamed a state-tied hacking collective known as TraderTraitor for the cyberattack. Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs independently linked the sophisticated operation to the same collective, noting that the perpetrators funneled the vast majority of the stolen funds out of the platform within a span of just 20 minutes.
Industry analysts note that the operation stands as the largest cryptocurrency exchange theft on record, eclipsing the previous major breach—approximately $1.5 billion stolen from the Bybit platform in 2025—which investigators also attributed to North Korean digital operatives.
In her public statement, Kim Yo Jong warned that Washington’s persistent hostility has left Pyongyang with “issues to reconsider.” To date, North Korean leadership has maintained public silence regarding diplomatic overtures from Washington concerning the potential revival of summit talks.
Security and foreign policy analysts in Seoul suggest that the unusually swift denial from Pyongyang highlights deep-seated concern within the isolated regime that the United States and its allies could intensify efforts to sever a critical financial lifeline widely believed to fund the country’s military and weapons development programs.
Meanwhile, operational recovery efforts are underway at the targeted exchange. Binance announced Monday that platform withdrawals will begin restarting for additional digital assets across multiple blockchains, including Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Sui, starting at 04:00 GMT Tuesday. Additional token support is scheduled to roll out across networks such as Arbitrum, Optimism, Tron, and Base.
Company officials confirmed that Binance has absorbed the financial blow by replacing the vast majority of the compromised assets directly out of its own corporate reserves.
