North Korea has denied responsibility for the record-breaking $6.3 billion hack of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, rejecting allegations by US government agencies and independent cyber analysts that Pyongyang orchestrated the heist. A statement attributed to a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson dismissed the accusation as a baseless smear campaign, insisting the country has no involvement in such cyber operations. The denial follows attributions from US authorities, who have previously linked North Korean state-sponsored hacking groups to a series of high-profile cryptocurrency thefts used to fund the regime's weapons programmes.
The Binance breach, the largest cryptocurrency heist on record, has intensified scrutiny of North Korea's alleged cyber capabilities and its use of stolen digital assets to circumvent international sanctions. Cyber analysts tracking the case say technical indicators, including malware signatures and laundering patterns, point to groups long associated with Pyongyang's Reconnaissance General Bureau. The dispute underscores the difficulty of definitively attributing cyberattacks, even as Washington maintains that North Korea's hacking operations pose a growing threat to global financial institutions. Binance has said it is cooperating with law enforcement, while the US Treasury has not indicated whether it will impose further sanctions in response. North Korea has consistently denied involvement in past crypto thefts linked to it.
Independent reporting synthesized from primary wires and global correspondents.