US gets authority to seize $1.2bn in Binance hack funds
The Justice Department says a court authorized seizure or restraint of more than $1.2 billion tied to the October Binance hack, as recovery efforts continue.
The Blockheight Editors··2 min read
The U.S. Justice Department said on Nov. 12 that it had court authorization to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance in an Oct. 29 hack attributed to North Korean actors. The department said government and private-sector efforts have frozen more than $2.7 billion linked to the theft.
What did the court authorization cover?
The Justice Department’s announcement describes the $1.2 billion as part of the more than $2.7 billion frozen so far. It says the department obtained court authorization to seize or restrain that portion; the announcement does not say all of it has been transferred to government-controlled wallets or forfeited.
The department said North Korean military members stole more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance. The FBI’s Oct. 31 alert attributed the theft to North Korea and referred to the activity as “TraderTraitor.”
Who is linked to the theft?
The FBI said the stolen assets were being converted primarily into Ether and could be moved through decentralized finance and instant-swap services for further laundering. Its alert urged virtual-asset service providers and other industry participants to block transactions involving listed addresses, or assets derived from them.
The recovery effort involves the Justice Department, FBI, U.S. Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, alongside virtual-asset service providers, according to the department. The announcement identifies Binance as the exchange from which the assets were stolen; it does not detail how much of the $2.7 billion freeze came from each participant.
What happens to the funds now?
The department said tracing, freezing, seizure and forfeiture work is ongoing, as TraderTraitor actors continue to launder funds through crypto bridges, mixers and exchanges. Court authorization allows the government to pursue the specified assets, but does not itself establish that the full amount has been recovered or returned.
In a typical forfeiture process, the government files a claim and a judge determines who has a legitimate claim to recovered property, the Associated Press reported. The department has not said when forfeiture claims will be filed or when any funds might be returned.
Source material
- Justice Department’s announcement — justice.gov