FBI seizes $1.2bn stolen in Binance cryptocurrency hack

The FBI has seized more than $1.2bn (£910m) of cryptocurrency stolen from Binance last month. 

Assets worth more than $6.3bn (£4.7bn) were stolen from the cryptocurrency platform, in what has been described as one of the "largest bank heists in human history".

US authorities have said a North Korean hacking unit called TraderTraitor was responsible for the theft, which was reportedly competed in less than 20 minutes.

It is believed to be the largest cryptocurrency hack to date - surpassing the $1.5bn (£1.13bn) that was stolen when the Bybit exchange was targeted last year.

The US government and private sector have collectively managed to freeze more than $2.7bn (£2bn) of the funds stolen from Binance, with the Department of Justice saying on Thursday that it had obtained court authorisation to seize or restrain in excess of $1.2bn of that total.

In such situations, the US government will typically file a claim of forfeiture with a judge, who will then determine who has a legitimate claim to the recovered funds.

On Thursday, Binance said it had "completed coverage of assets impacted in the security incident" and thanked users for their "patience and understanding".

The company said it had published a "Proof of Reserves snapshot" and that "once the zero-knowledge proof is generated, users can independently verify that their assets are backed at a minimum of 1:1".

Binance, one of the world's biggest platforms for trading digital assets, previously said that "90% of stolen assets have been replenished", adding that the company will "absorb the financial impact" of the stolen funds, and not pass these on to their users.

Speaking after the hack, Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said the company's initial investigation suggested the incident "may have started with a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop".

In a post on X, Mr Teng added: "To be clear: the attacker did not simply use one engineer's permissions, and this was not a single 'one-click' action. It involved a more complex attack process."

Binance has said that its users - of which the company claims there are 335 million worldwide - are covered by the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), set up by the company in 2018 to protect users assets in "extreme cases", including security breaches or platform-level incidents.

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North Korea accused of 'highly effective' scheme

The FBI has also blamed North Korea for a separate scheme it says resulted in the theft of more than $400m (£302m) worth of cryptocurrency over the last 18 months.

Known as FaceStealer, the "highly effective" scheme involved combining the hijacking of popular messaging apps and the recording of deepfake videos, the FBI said.

The US has repeatedly accused North Korea of using cyber schemes to generate funds for its regime, including its weapons program.

Officials insisted the US "will continue the fight" against those who they said "financially gain from cybercrime".

(c) Sky News 2026: FBI seizes $1.2bn stolen in Binance cryptocurrency hack