by Coinstrooper Crypto Articles
Quick Take
  • The US Justice Department has court approval to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion stolen from Binance.
  • The money comes from the October 29 hack the FBI pinned on North Korea’s state hacking unit.
  • On-chain data shows billions more still within the Binance hacker’s reach.
  • The Justice Department announced the action on November 12 in a release.

What Happened

The US Justice Department has court approval to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion stolen from Binance. The money comes from the October 29 hack the FBI pinned on North Korea’s state hacking unit.

That covers less than a fifth of the haul. On-chain data shows billions more still within the Binance hacker’s reach.

The Justice Department announced the action on November 12 in a release. The FBI attributed the Binance hack to a North Korean unit it calls “TraderTraitor.”

Binance customers, meanwhile, are already covered. The exchange said it replaced every token lost in the hack from its own treasury and insurance funds. Any funds the US eventually forfeits would therefore not change what users hold.

The DOJ said its recovery work continues because the hackers keep routing funds through bridges, mixers, and exchanges.

Roughly $2.85 billion remains accessible to the hackers. The remaining $891 million may have already been moved or laundered, the firm said.

Over the past few days, the hackers also moved funds through cross-chain protocols THORChain and Chainflip.

Earlier, the FBI, Secret Service, and IRS-CI urged crypto service providers to block addresses tied to the laundering. Onchain Lens questioned whether the hackers could move another $1 billion before THORChain and Chainflip restrict the linked wallets.

The post US Moves to Seize $1.2 Billion From Binance Hack. Where Is the Rest? appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Market Context

A $1.2 Billion Slice of a $2.7 Billion Freeze

Government and private-sector efforts have frozen more than $2.7 billion so far. The $1.2 billion court order targets part of that frozen pool.

Why It Matters

Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva credited the DOJ’s Criminal Division with the early freezes.

“As the Department’s liaison to the digital asset industry, the Criminal Division quickly and efficiently used its expertise to immediately halt about half of this historic breach,” Duva said.

Details

Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens

Where the Rest of the $6.34 Billion Sits

On-chain data shows how far that laundering has gone so far. Onchain Lens put the total haul at about $6.34 billion in an update earlier this week, citing Arkham Intelligence data.

Meanwhile, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic tracked about 1,650 Bitcoin (BTC) in new addresses by November 6. The coins came from other stolen assets, and some funds later reached the Tornado Cash mixer.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch leaders and journalists provide expert insights