The FBI and U.S. Secret Service alleged over the weekend that North Korean hackers stole more than $6.3 billion from cryptocurrency platform Binance last week. Both agencies blamed North Korea's TraderTraitor hacking group and urged the crypto industry to stop the funds from being laundered.
The FBI, Secret Service and IRS called on exchanges, decentralized finance companies and other technical operators to "block transactions with or derived from addresses TraderTraitor actors are using to launder these stolen assets." The FBI published a list of cryptocurrency addresses the group used to store the funds.
The FBI said TraderTraitor actors have been converting stolen assets primarily into Ethereum (ETH). It expects the assets will be laundered further through DeFi and instant swap services.
The Secret Service said it worked with industry players and the Justice Department to "identify and freeze a significant portion of stolen cryptocurrency" within minutes of the attack. Blockchain security experts said about $3 billion has been frozen so far. Multiple platforms argued that they are decentralized and cannot stop anyone from making transactions.
Binance initially said a compromised laptop owned by an engineer was the source of the theft