Digitalwährungen: Nordkorea nennt US-Vorwürfe zu Krypto-Raub „absurd“

North Korea has dismissed US accusations of being responsible for the theft of several billion dollars from the Binance trading platform as "absurd" and a "serious political provocation," according to Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un. Speaking through the state news agency KCNA, Kim Yo Jong denounced the allegations as a "serious political provocation."

The Binance heist, estimated at over six billion dollars in damages, is the largest cyberattack ever on a cryptocurrency exchange. By comparison, South Korea's central bank estimates North Korea's total foreign trade last year at around 3.1 billion US dollars - just half the alleged amount of crypto stolen. North Korean hackers are also accused of funding weapons programs.

Kim accused Washington of routinely linking North Korea to international cybercrime without evidence. Last year, the US had accused Pyongyang of hacking the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, where around 1.5 billion dollars in digital currency was stolen. The repeated accusations aimed to damage North Korea's international standing and violate its sovereignty, Kim explained.

The FBI had blamed North Korea for the Binance heist, citing a North Korean-supported hacker group as involved in the attack, according to the US Federal Police. North Korean hackers have been linked to numerous attacks on crypto platforms by international security researchers for years. The stolen funds are allegedly used to finance North Korea's weapons programs.