{"id":3715,"date":"2026-11-03T11:03:48","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T06:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3715"},"modified":"2026-11-03T11:03:48","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T06:03:48","slug":"north-korea-rejects-us-claim-over-6bn-binance-crypto-heist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3715","title":{"rendered":"North Korea rejects US claim over $6bn Binance crypto heist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

North Korea on Tuesday dismissed as \u201cabsurd rhetoric\u201d US allegations that it was behind a $6 billion cryptocurrency heist on the Binance platform, saying \u200cthey proved Washington remained hostile towards it, state news agency KCNA said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The denial by Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un, comes as Pyongyang has stayed silent on US President Donald Trump\u2019s overtures to resume summit diplomacy.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the US allegations, she said North Korea had \u201cissues to reconsider\u201d over what she called US hostility.<\/p>\n

The FBI said at the weekend that North Korea \u200bwas responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance, the world\u2019s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, in what could be the largest-ever financial heist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u200bFBI is trying to brand the DPRK as a \u2018cyber criminal state,\u2019 claiming that it obtained information that a hacking organisation \u2018supported\u2019 by the \u2060DPRK was involved in the incident,\u201d KCNA quoted Kim Yo Jong, a ruling party official, as saying. DPRK is short for the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the US \u200bassertion is absurd rhetoric and nothing new,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a grave political provocation against the DPRK that the US misleads international public opinion as if all the cyber crimes \u200bin different parts of the world are our deeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Revenue stream<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Cybersecurity experts say North Korean hackers are among the world\u2019s most prolific crypto thieves<\/a> and the proceeds help fund the country\u2019s weapons programmes.<\/p>\n

North Korea denies allegations linking it to cryptocurrency theft and other cybercrimes.<\/p>\n

North Korea has stolen cryptocurrency worth $7.6 billion this year, more than in any previous year, according to estimates by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.<\/p>\n

Analysts in Seoul said \u200bPyongyang\u2019s unusually swift response likely reflected concern that the allegation could lead to tighter efforts to disrupt revenue streams that North Korea is accused of using to finance its \u200bweapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith sanctions already in place, cryptocurrency theft has become one of North Korea\u2019s key channels for securing funds for regime maintenance and weapons development,\u201d said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University\u2019s Institute \u200cfor Far \u2060Eastern Studies.<\/p>\n

Additional US measures targeting crypto wallets, laundering networks and cryptocurrency exchanges could choke off an important source of revenue, Lim said.<\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s central bank estimated North Korea\u2019s gross domestic product at 47.18 trillion won in 2025, meaning the Binance theft could be equivalent to about a sixth of its economic output.<\/p>\n

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimated 89% of crypto hack losses in 2026 were linked to North Korea, up from 15% in 2021. It said the average reported loss per hack rose from $50.65 million in 2021 to $185.65 million in \u200b2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you could call it big \u200bgame hunting, where they\u2019re targeting these larger \u2060exchanges that may take more time and more complexity to be able to do \u2026 but the payoff can be relatively large,\u201d said Alec Zebrick, senior manager of Asia-Pacific Global Services at Chainalysis.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Key message<\/strong><\/h3>\n

North Korea is one of the world\u2019s most impoverished countries but has \u200bpoured resources secured through illicit means and activities banned under UN Security Council resolutions into its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons \u200bprogrammes.<\/p>\n

Kim Yo Jong said \u2060North Korea would \u201creconsider\u201d unspecified issues in light of the \u201cvery unpleasant US hostile attitude\u201d, without elaborating. North Korea has not publicly responded to Trump\u2019s offers to resume summit diplomacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key message is not about cyber theft itself, but about US-North Korea relations,\u201d said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.<\/p>\n

\u201cPyongyang is essentially saying: don\u2019t use this issue \u2060as leverage or \u200bpressure if you want to keep the door to dialogue open.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FBI said members of a North \u200bKorean state-sponsored unit known as TraderTraitor were responsible for the Binance attack. Law enforcement had observed them converting the stolen assets to the cryptocurrency Ethereum, and expected them to launder the assets further.<\/p>\n

Binance has said it covered most \u200bof the assets<\/a> stolen from the platform by using company money.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Korea on Tuesday dismissed as \u201cabsurd rhetoric\u201d US allegations that it was behind a $6 billion cryptocurrency heist on the Binance platform, saying \u200cthey proved Washington remained hostile towards it, state news agency KCNA said. The denial by Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un, comes as Pyongyang has stayed silent on US President Donald Trump\u2019s overtures to resume summit diplomacy. In the wake of the US allegations, she said North Korea had \u201cissues to reconsider\u201d over what she called US hostility. The FBI said…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}