FBI blames North Korean hackers for biggest crypto heist in history

NEW YORK: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has blamed North Korean hackers for the theft of billions of dollars from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, describing it as the biggest crypto heist in history.In a statement issued on Saturday, the FBI said the attack was linked to an entity known as TraderTraitor, which it identified as the same group behind last year's $1.5 billion hack of cryptocurrency platform Bybit.

The bureau said the latest attack involved the theft of billions of dollars within minutes. It has urged cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain analytics companies and other industry participants to block transactions associated with identified wallet addresses to prevent the stolen funds from being laundered.According to the FBI, its investigation found that TraderTraitor was converting the stolen assets primarily into Ethereum, one of the world's largest cryptocurrencies.

The bureau warned that the hackers could attempt to move the funds through decentralised finance platforms and instant-swap services to obscure their origin.The FBI has asked cryptocurrency businesses and other relevant entities to remain alert and take steps to prevent transactions linked to the stolen assets from being processed.The attribution places the incident among a series of major cryptocurrency thefts that US authorities have linked to North Korean cyber operations.

With inputs from AP and The Week