North Korea rejects FBI claim linking it to $6 billion Binance cryptocurrency theft

North Korea has rejected the FBI’s allegation that a hacking group linked to Pyongyang was responsible for stealing more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume. Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, described the US claim as “absurd rhetoric” and a “grave political provocation” in a statement released by the state news agency KCNA. She accused Washington of misleading international opinion by suggesting that cybercrimes around the world were the work of North Korea.

The FBI said at the weekend that the North Korea-affiliated group TraderTraitor carried out the Binance attack. According to France 24, US law enforcement had observed the stolen assets being converted into Ethereum and expected the funds to be laundered further. The reports differ in how they describe the certainty surrounding the allegation.

The FBI presented TraderTraitor as responsible for the attack, while South China Morning Post noted that US President Donald Trump had cast doubt on North Korea’s involvement after the FBI statement. “We don’t know if it’s North Korea,” Trump told reporters at his residence in Florida, according to the report. Kim Yo Jong said the accusation was part of an attempt to portray North Korea as a “cybercriminal state” and damage its international image, dignity and national prestige.

She also said the allegation represented a violation of North Korea’s sovereignty. North Korea has consistently denied allegations connecting it to cryptocurrency theft and other cybercrimes. Kim said the country’s government opposed “all sorts of malicious acts in cyberspace”, according to the South China Morning Post.

Cybersecurity experts cited by France 24 say North Korean hackers are among the world’s most prolific cryptocurrency thieves. They have also said that proceeds from such activity help support the country’s weapons programmes. The reports provide no independent finding resolving the dispute between Pyongyang’s denial and the FBI’s attribution.

The alleged Binance theft would be among the largest financial heists ever reported. South China Morning Post said it exceeded the $1.5 billion cryptocurrency theft from Bybit in February last year, an attack for which the same TraderTraitor group had been blamed. News of the Binance attack caused most major cryptocurrencies to fall sharply on Friday, according to the report.

Binance has said it covered most of the stolen assets using company money. The supplied reports do not state how much of the funds was ultimately recovered or whether any arrests had been made. The dispute also comes against a strained diplomatic backdrop.

Trump has repeatedly offered to resume summit diplomacy with Kim Jong Un since returning to office, and has said he was open to meeting the North Korean leader this year. Pyongyang has not publicly responded to those overtures, according to the reports. Kim Yo Jong warned that North Korea had “issues to reconsider” in light of what she called Washington’s hostile attitude.

She did not specify what measures or policy changes that warning might entail, leaving its possible effect on future US-North Korea engagement uncertain.