Trump disputes the FBI over the record $6.3bn Binance crypto heist, saying 'we don't know if it's North Korea'
The FBI warned that those responsible for the Binance raid are converting stolen funds into Ethereum and laundering them through decentralised finance platforms.Kim Jong Un, whose country's TraderTraitor unit carried out the Binance raid using access gained through a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop, according to investigators.
Trump publicly broke with his own FBI on Saturday night, telling reporters at a Mar-a-Lago Halloween party that his administration was still "learning about" the $6.3bn Binance hack and casting doubt on North Korea's involvement just hours after the bureau formally named Pyongyang as responsible.
The FBI, working with the Secret Service and IRS, identified elite North Korean cyber unit TraderTraitor — also behind a $1.5bn Bybit heist last year — as the attacker.
TraderTraitor drained $6.36bn from Binance across ten blockchains in roughly 20 minutes, with stolen funds now being converted into Ethereum ahead of further laundering.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whom Trump previously pardoned, said the company will cover all customer losses and has already replenished 90% of stolen funds.
