Binance covers 90% of $6.3bn stolen in suspected record crypto hack linked to North Korea

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, says it has covered 90% of the $6.3bn (£4.7bn) in assets stolen in a hack on Thursday, in what is suspected to be the biggest crypto theft on record. The company said the remaining 10% may take longer to source in the required amounts. It has consistently pledged to cover 100% of the losses and confirmed it has set aside more than $6.34bn in company funds to do so. "Binance will absorb the financial impact of these stolen funds, not our users," the company said in a statement on Saturday. In an update on Sunday, Binance said withdrawals had been restored on several of its networks after they were suspended following the hack. It had previously said withdrawals would be resumed in phases. The exchange said it had replenished the stolen assets using various funds and its own corporate treasury, covering all holdings of bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether, along with seven other widely traded crypto assets. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Saturday that North Korea was responsible for the attack. The FBI said it had observed hackers converting stolen assets into Ethereum, and that the assets are expected to be converted again using decentralised finance and instant swap services. Two analytics firms previously told the BBC they had robust intelligence pointing to North Korean state-backed hacking unit the Lazarus Group, also known as TraderTraitor, as the likely culprits. The group was specifically named by the FBI. North Korea has always denied involvement in such attacks. Speaking to reporters on Saturday night, US President Donald Trump said the US was still unsure who the culprits are. "We're learning about it. We don't know if it's North Korea - but if it is, we'll talk to North Korea about it," he said. The hack is believed to be the largest in history, eclipsing the $1.5bn heist on the Bybit exchange in 2025, for which the FBI also said North Korea was responsible. Binance's initial investigation suggested an engineer's laptop was compromised, allowing unauthorised withdrawals, but a later update said the company had uncovered additional points of breach. Richard Teng, Binance's co-chief executive officer, said the hack was carried out by more than one person and that the hackers used sophisticated methods to hide their tracks, including a self-destruct mechanism. On Friday, the company said it had frozen around $3bn of stolen assets after working with law enforcement, intelligence firms and partners, and confirmed the investigation is ongoing. The US Secret Service said on Friday it is working around the clock with private sector partners to identify, freeze, trace and recover the stolen funds. Binance, founded in China in 2017, allows users to buy, sell and trade digital assets and is estimated to have hundreds of millions of users worldwide.