U.S. Secures Court Authority Over $1.2 Billion in Stolen Crypto

The U.S. Justice Department has secured court authorization to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency it says was stolen from Binance, an attack the FBI attributed to North Korea.

The authorization covers assets tied to the Oct. 29 theft, but it does not establish that the full amount has been seized or returned. The department said tracing and forfeiture work is continuing.

More than $2.7 billion in stolen assets has been frozen through combined U.S. government and private-sector efforts, with the $1.2 billion included in that total. The department said members of the North Korean military stole more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance on or about Oct. 29. The FBI calls the group “TraderTraitor” and separately attributed the theft to North Korea.

The FBI’s Oct. 31 alert said it observed the stolen assets being converted primarily into Ether (ETH). The department did not disclose a token-by-token breakdown for the $1.2 billion covered by the court authorization. The department did not report a sale or completed return of those assets.