Trump says US is investigating North Korea over $6.3 billion crypto exchange Binance hack: What traders need to know

Binance’s $6.3 billion hack has drawn the attention of US President Donald Trump, who said the US is investigating whether North Korea was behind the attack. His remarks came as the cryptocurrency exchange pledged to cover the losses and Bitcoin fell to around $77,000 on Friday, October 30.

Trump said Binance management had told him the situation was under control, but the US administration has not officially blamed North Korea for the incident. Meanwhile the attack weighed on cryptocurrency prices, with Ether, Solana and Binance’s native BNB token also recording losses.

Binance has temporarily suspended customer withdrawals and said it would cover the losses using its own funds and reserves.

Trump Investigates Possible North Korea Connection to Binance Hack

Trump said the US was examining whether North Korea was responsible for the attack on Binance.

He said, “We are investigating whether the hacking attack on Binance was carried out by North Korea,” as quoted by BitcoinSistemi. He also added that, “Binance says the situation is under control.”

The US president's comments followed assessments by blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis that a North Korean-linked hacking group known as TraderTraitor may have carried out the attack.

TRM Labs said the methods used in the incident resembled those seen in major cryptocurrency thefts previously associated with North Korea. Based on its technical findings, the firm attributed the attack to a North Korean-linked group with a high level of confidence.

TraderTraitor has also been linked to the February 2025 attack on cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, which resulted in the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in digital assets. However, the US administration has not officially attributed the Binance hack to North Korea.

Binance Pledges to Cover Losses After $6.3 Billion Attack

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said on Friday that the exchange would cover all losses using its own funds. He also sought to reassure customers, writing on social media, “Your assets are safe.”

The exchange confirmed that $3 billion in assets, representing about half of the funds affected, had been frozen.

Stablecoin issuers also froze assets connected to the incident. Tether froze $1.567 billion in USDT, Circle froze $800 million, and World Liberty Financial froze $27 million in USD1, according to their respective chief executives.

These frozen assets account for a significant portion of the affected funds. Assuming the stablecoins are ultimately returned, approximately $3.3 billion would remain, according to Yahoo Finance. Binance’s emergency fund, worth roughly $1.2 billion and held in Bitcoin, would cover about a third of that amount, with the balance expected to come from the exchange’s own balance sheet.