U.S. seizes $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance

U.S. authorities have seized around $1.2 billion in virtual assets stolen from cryptocurrency exchange Binance last month, the Department of Justice said Thursday, as it vowed action to tackle cyberscams originating from North Korea.

Over $6 billion was stolen from industry giant Binance on Oct. 29, which the DOJ attributed to actors linked to the North Korean military.

Collective efforts between the U.S. government and private sector have resulted in more than $2.7 billion of that amount being frozen.

The FBI blames the attack, which shook confidence in crypto market security, on members of the North Korean military it refers to as "TraderTraitor."

The DOJ said it was taking coordinated action against what it called the North Korean government's "schemes to fund its regime through the massive theft of cryptocurrency."

That includes "the court-authorized seizure and restraint of more than $1.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency recently stolen from Binance," it said.

DOJ units, law enforcement partners and virtual asset service providers have been working to intercept the stolen assets.

But efforts to track and freeze the assets are ongoing, as TraderTraitor actors continue to launder them through various cryptocurrency channels.