Chainalysis and Elliptic expect North Korean hackers to take months to launder the Binance proceeds, utilizing scripted automation and DeFi lending protocols (Financial Times)

North Korea has denied allegations that it was responsible for a record $6.3 billion hack of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, with official Kim Yo Jong calling the claims "absurd rhetoric" and a "sinister attempt" by the US to damage the country's image. However, the FBI, the Secret Service, and cyber analysts have identified the attack as being orchestrated by North Korea and led by the state-backed hacking group TraderTraitor.

CoinDesk reports that FBI alerts have identified North Korean-controlled wallet addresses tied to the exploit, which is described as the largest in history.

Regarding the financial impact, PC Gamer reports that Binance lost $6.3 billion, with roughly $3 billion frozen in transit and the remainder covered by the company. Following a temporary suspension of withdrawals, customers withdrew $4.649 billion in less than 10 hours after the exchange reopened on November 1. While deposits have begun to exceed withdrawals, the exchange's total cashflow remained a net negative of -$5 billion as of November 3.

Chainalysis and Elliptic expect the North Korean hackers to take months to launder the stolen billions of dollars in tokens, likely utilizing DeFi lending protocols and scripted automation, according to the Financial Times.

Brief written by urgent.news from Techmeme, PC Gamer, CoinDesk, Capital Business, KBC — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.