Last month a theft of roughly US$6.3 billion from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, became the largest crypto heist on record, and now the machinery of the state has begun to pull some of that wealth back toward the light. The FBI, which attributes the attack to the North Korean group TraderTraitor, has secured court authority over more than US$1.2 billion of the roughly US$2.7 billion frozen so far, but the money is held rather than awarded, and it will fall to a judge to decide who truly has a claim to it. The same day, the bureau tied a separate, slower deception campaign, the F
FBI Seizes $1.2 Billion in Crypto Stolen From Binance in Record Heist Linked to North Korea
The money has been secured but not yet assigned.
Mark
Start with the headline number. The FBI says it seized $1.2 billion. Out of how much?
Mimi
About US$6.3 billion was stolen from Binance last month. So the seized amount is a real piece of it, but well short of the whole.
Luke
And "seized" needs care. The Justice Department said it has court authorisation to seize or restrain that amount. Those aren't identical things.
Mark
Fair. Where does the $2.7 billion figure fit?
Mimi
That's the total frozen so far by the US government and private sector together. The $1.2 billion is the part of that now backed by court authority.
Mark
So who gets the money back?
Mimi
That's undecided. Typically the government files a forfeiture claim and a judge determines who has a legitimate claim.
Luke
The reporting doesn't say who the claimants are or how long it takes. Anyone offering a timeline is guessing.
Mark
And the North Korea link?
Mimi
The FBI attributes the theft to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group, and blamed North Korea for the separate FaceStealer scheme worth US$400 million.
Luke
Both are FBI attributions. The source gives us the bureau's position, not independent confirmation, and it doesn't lay out the evidence.
Mark
What is FaceStealer, in plain terms?
Mimi
A chain of steps that hijacks popular messaging apps and uses recorded deepfake videos to deceive people, according to officials.
O Pulso
- A US$6.3 billion theft from Binance has shaken the crypto world as the largest heist on record.
- The FBI has moved to seize or restrain more than US$1.2 billion of the stolen funds, with US$2.7 billion frozen in total.
- Prosecutors must file forfeiture claims, and a judge will now decide who has a legitimate right to the recovered money.
- A second North Korean scheme, FaceStealer, mixing hijacked messaging apps and deepfake videos, is blamed for another US$400 million in losses.
- The money is secured for now, but its final owners remain undecided and the court process could take a long time.
Last month a theft of roughly US$6.3 billion from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, became the largest crypto heist on record, and now the machinery of the state has begun to pull some of that wealth back toward the light. The FBI, which attributes the attack to the North Korean group TraderTraitor, has secured court authority over more than US$1.2 billion of the roughly US$2.7 billion frozen so far, but the money is held rather than awarded, and it will fall to a judge to decide who truly has a claim to it. The same day, the bureau tied a separate, slower deception campaign, the FaceStealer scheme, which it says drained US$400 million over eighteen months, to the same regime, sketching a broader pattern in which cyber theft is said to fund a state's weapons ambitions.
On Friday the FBI announced that it had taken hold of more than US$1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance last month. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, lost about US$6.3 billion in what is regarded as the biggest crypto heist in history. The bureau has already attributed the theft to the North Korean hacking group TraderTraitor, and Friday's announcement concerned only what has been recovered so far.
The recovery has come in two stages. Governments and private firms together have frozen more than US$2.7 billion of the stolen funds, and the Justice Department has now obtained court authority to seize or restrain more than US$1.2 billion of that frozen amount. The money is secured but not yet assigned. Next, the government will typically file a forfeiture claim, and a judge will determine who has a legitimate right to the recovered funds. The source does not say who the claimants might be or how long that could take.
The same day, the FBI accused North Korea of a separate scheme called FaceStealer, which it says has stolen US$400 million in cryptocurrency over the past 18 months through hijacked messaging apps and deepfake videos. Officials see both cases as part of a repeated pattern in which North Korea uses cyber operations to raise money for its regime, including its weapons program. For now the figures define the situation: US$6.3 billion taken, US$2.7 billion frozen, and US$1.2 billion under court-authorised seizure, with the decisive stage now in the courts.
On Friday, the FBI announced that it had taken hold of more than US$1.2 billion (NZ$2.1 billion) in cryptocurrency that was reported stolen from Binance last month. Binance is the world's largest crypto exchange, and the theft, about US$6.3 billion (NZ$11.3 billion), is regarded as the biggest crypto heist in history.
The FBI has previously attributed the Binance theft to a North Korean hacking group known as TraderTraitor. The announcement Friday concerned what has been recovered so far, not who carried out the theft, a point the bureau had already made in earlier statements.
The recovery effort has had two parts. The US government and the private sector together have frozen more than US$2.7 billion (NZ$4.8 billion) of the stolen funds. Of that frozen total, the Justice Department said Friday that it has now obtained court authorisation to seize or restrain more than US$1.2 billion. Put another way, roughly US$2.7 billion of about US$6.3 billion has been frozen, and a little under half of the frozen amount is now covered by court authority to seize or restrain.
What happens next follows a familiar path. In situations like this, the US government typically files a claim of forfeiture with a judge. The judge then determines who has a legitimate claim to the recovered funds. That means the money has been secured but not yet assigned, and the source does not say who the claimants might be or how long the process could take.
The FBI made a second accusation against North Korea on the same day. It blamed the country for a separate social engineering scheme that officials say led to the theft of US$400 million (NZ$721 million) in cryptocurrency over the past 18 months. The scheme is known as FaceStealer. It involves a complicated chain of events that combines the hijacking of popular messaging apps with the recording of deepfake videos.
Both announcements fit a pattern that US officials have described repeatedly. They have accused North Korea of using cyber schemes to generate money for its regime, including for its illicit weapons program. The two cases differ in scale and method: one is a single theft of about US$6.3 billion from an exchange, the other a slower campaign of deception that the FBI says took US$400 million across a year and a half.
For now, the numbers define where things stand. About US$6.3 billion was taken, more than US$2.7 billion has been frozen, and more than US$1.2 billion is under court-authorised seizure or restraint. The next stage is in the courts, where a judge will weigh the forfeiture claims and decide who is entitled to what has been recovered.
Citações Notáveis
The FBI has attributed the Binance theft to a North Korean hacking group known as TraderTraitor.— FBI, as reported by 1News
The Justice Department said it has obtained court authorisation to seize or restrain more than US$1.2 billion of the frozen funds.— US Justice Department, as reported by 1News
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