North Korea Denies Role in Record Binance Crypto Hack

North Korea has denied orchestrating the $6.3bn (£4.7bn) hack of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, a breach that US officials and blockchain analysts have called the largest cyber theft in history, according to the BBC.

Kim Yo Jong, director of North Korea's General Affairs Department and sister of leader Kim Jong Un, called the accusations "absurd rhetoric" in a statement issued Tuesday, the BBC reported.

What Did Kim Yo Jong Say About the Hack?

Kim Yo Jong said the US was making "another sinister attempt" to damage Pyongyang's public image, according to the BBC. She argued that Washington routinely attributes unrelated global cybercrime to North Korea.

"It is a grave political provocation against the DPRK that the US misleads the international public opinion as if all the cyber crimes in different parts of the world are our deeds," Kim Yo Jong said, per the BBC.

She added that opposing "all sorts of malicious acts in cyberspace" is North Korea's "consistent policy stand," the BBC reported.

Who Does the US Blame for the Binance Breach?

The FBI, the Secret Service and outside cyber analysts have said North Korea orchestrated the hack, the BBC reported. Investigators have pointed to TraderTraitor, a state-backed hacking unit also known as the Lazarus Group, as the actor behind the breach, according to the BBC. The FBI has asked industry partners to help block transactions tied to cryptocurrency accounts linked to the group, the BBC reported.

Binance did not respond to the BBC's questions about North Korea's alleged involvement. The exchange has instead focused its public statements on the technical details of the breach and steps taken to protect users, according to the BBC.

How Much Money Did Binance Lose?

A Binance spokesperson told the BBC that a net $4.72bn has been withdrawn from the exchange since trading and withdrawals resumed on Sunday. The spokesperson said that outflow represents a "relatively limited portion" of Binance's total assets, which stand at roughly $157bn, according to the BBC. That asset figure reflects the combined effect of the hack, the subsequent withdrawals and market price swings, the spokesperson told the BBC.

"Withdrawal levels are stabilising to what we would consider normal and expected on-chain activity," the spokesperson said, according to the BBC.

Hack by the Numbers

• $6.3bn (£4.7bn): size of the Binance breach, the largest on record, per the BBC
• $4.72bn: net amount withdrawn from Binance since transactions resumed Sunday, the exchange told the BBC
• $157bn: Binance's approximate total assets, according to the exchange's statement to the BBC
• $1.5bn: size of the 2025 Bybit hack, previously the largest, also blamed on TraderTraitor, per the BBC

Has North Korea Been Linked to Other Crypto Hacks?

Pyongyang has been blamed for a series of major cyber attacks in recent years and has denied each one, the BBC reported. TraderTraitor, the same unit implicated in the Binance breach, was blamed for a then-record $1.5bn hack of crypto exchange Bybit in 2025, according to the BBC.

Research groups including the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies have said North Korea has built out its cyber operations over years, recruiting promising students from universities and funneling them into hacker units overseen by the country's intelligence agency, the BBC reported. Cyber-crime proceeds have helped finance North Korea's sanctioned economy, according to the BBC.

Timeline of the Binance Hack and Its Fallout

• 2025: TraderTraitor is blamed for a $1.5bn hack of crypto exchange Bybit, then the largest such theft on record, per the BBC.
• Late October 2026: Binance suffers a breach now described as the largest crypto hack in history, with losses reaching $6.3bn, according to the BBC.
• Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026: Binance resumes transactions following the breach, the exchange told the BBC.
• By Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026: Binance reports $4.72bn in net withdrawals since trading resumed, against roughly $157bn in total assets, the exchange said, per the BBC.
• Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026: Kim Yo Jong publicly denies North Korean involvement, calling US attribution a political provocation, the BBC reported.

What Happens Next

Binance has said withdrawal activity is returning to levels it considers normal, according to the exchange's statement to the BBC, suggesting the exchange views the immediate liquidity pressure as easing. The FBI's outreach to industry partners signals an active effort to trace and block funds tied to TraderTraitor, the BBC reported, though the bureau has not detailed how much of the stolen $6.3bn, if any, has been recovered. North Korea's denial follows a pattern established after the Bybit hack and other incidents, the BBC reported, with Pyongyang consistently rejecting US and private-sector attribution of major cyber theft to its state-backed units.