US Gets Court Approval to Seize $1.2B Stolen in the Binance Hack

The US Justice Department announced on Thursday, November 12, that it has obtained court authorization to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance, Nextgov reported. The money comes from the theft of roughly $6.3 billion in October, which Cointelegraph described as the largest crypto hack on record.

The FBI has attributed that attack to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group, a finding first backed by blockchain firm TRM Labs, Cointelegraph reported on October 30. The Justice Department says the stolen funds support North Korea’s weapons program, The Hacker News reported. The seizure amount is a share of the total loss, not a separate recovery, and the reports name no court, case number or custodians holding the assets.

Binance said at the time of the hack that about $3 billion had been frozen, and the exchange reserved more than $6.34 billion of its own funds to cover losses, according to Cointelegraph. A separate report from CoinMarketCap said Circle froze about $1.1 billion in USDC tied to the incident, though it gave no exact date and did not mention the Justice Department.

A court authorization to seize or restrain funds is not the same as a completed forfeiture. Ownership and final disposition would still be decided by law enforcement and the courts, as Circle itself noted. The announcement came alongside a separate FBI action against a North Korean fake video call scheme.

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Sources:

• Nextgov: FBI disrupts North Korean fake-call scheme tied to $400M theft

• The Hacker News: FBI says North Korean hackers stole over $400 million

• Cointelegraph: Binance $6.3B hack and FBI response

• US Justice Department press release