North Korea denies links to Binance hack as researchers trace stolen billions

North Korea has rejected allegations from the United States that it orchestrated a record $6.3 billion hack of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Kim Yo-jong, a top official in North Korea, characterized the accusations as "absurd rhetoric" and a "sinister attempt" by the U.S. to damage the country's public image. The FBI, the Secret Service, and cyber analysts have identified the state-backed hacking group TraderTraitor as the leader of the attack, which BBC World describes as the largest in history.

According to Cointelegraph, the attackers stole approximately $6.3 billion from Binance's internet-connected hot wallets last week, moving most of the funds within about 20 minutes. Binance has stated that the vast majority of its users' assets are held in cold storage. Following the incident, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission held an emergency meeting to review the impact on its domestic market and urged crypto providers to increase the proportion of assets held in offline cold wallets.

While South Korean law requires exchanges to hold at least 80% of user assets in cold storage, the regulator is calling for higher levels of security.

Brief written by urgent.news from CNBC World, Cointelegraph, BBC World, BBC News, BBC Business — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.