Science & Tech · Cybersecurity · 2 hrs ago
Binance thieves used meme coins to obscure stolen funds
Suspected North Korean hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance in an attack on October 29.
The theft followed months of preparation and involved malware and compromised AI tools.
Elliptic says the hackers created meme coins to obscure the money trail, moving about $430,000 through them so far.
Meme coins can rise sharply in value when buyers rush in, then fall, but Elliptic says no one was harmed in these cases and the transactions can still be tracked.
The hackers have also used more than 20,000 wallets across 16 blockchains and at least 36 services to move some of the funds.
About $2.85 billion of the stolen money has been frozen, while Binance says it has replaced 98% of affected customer holdings.
More than $3 billion remains to be traced, and US law enforcement is examining services used to move the funds.
Elliptic says suspected North Korean hackers used newly created meme coins to make it harder to trace funds stolen from Binance.
The thieves have moved about $430,000 through the meme coins so far, and no one was harmed in the observed cases.
The theft totaled $6.3 billion, of which about $2.85 billion was frozen.
Elliptic says the laundering involved tens of thousands of wallets and many transactions across multiple blockchains.
More than $3 billion remains unaccounted for, while Binance says it has replaced 98 percent of the affected holdings.
- Who
- Suspected North Korean cybercriminals, identified as the group TraderTraitor, stole the funds.
- What
- They allegedly stole $6.3 billion from Binance and used meme coins and other methods to obscure the funds’ movement.
- When
- The theft took place on October 29.
- Where
- Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange. The article does not state where the attackers were located.
- Why
- Elliptic says the meme coins were used to make the stolen funds harder to trace.
Cryptocurrency services
Nick Carlsen, former FBI analyst at TRM Labs
Services' ability to intervene
Cryptocurrency services
The services used to move funds say their decentralized technology makes it impossible for them to prevent the activity.
Nick Carlsen, former FBI analyst at TRM Labs
Carlsen says the services are not entirely decentralized.
The attackers carried out preparations that included fake job interviews and attacks using malware and compromised AI tools.
The thieves stole $6.3 billion from Binance in just under four hours.
They set up more than 20,000 cryptocurrency wallets across 16 blockchains and made at least 65,000 transactions through at least 36 services.
Elliptic reported that the thieves were using automated techniques to launder funds.
Heise reported that Elliptic had observed the use of newly created meme coins to obscure the funds’ trail.
- Total stolen
- $6.3 billion
- Funds frozen
- About $2.85 billion
- Meme-coin transfers
- About $430,000
- Wallets created
- More than 20,000 across 16 blockchains
- Binance reimbursement
- 98 percent of affected holdings, according to Binance