Binance recovers bulk of $6 billion in stolen funds in world's largest digital heist

Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, said it would resume withdrawals in phases after covering 95% of the $6.3 billion in tokens stolen from its platform in the world's largest digital heist, which the FBI has tied to North Korea.

Binance said phase would start between 0600 and 0900 GMT on Sunday and include bitcoin, ether, BNB, Solana, XRP, dogecoin and other tokens.

The remaining 5% of stolen tokens consists of assets that are less liquid and may take longer to source in the required amounts, Binance posted on X late on Saturday.

The FBI said on Saturday the North Korean state-sponsored unit known as TraderTraitor was responsible for the attack.

Pyongyang has for years denied using state-linked cyber units for espionage, financial theft and revenue. Its mission in Geneva and embassy in China did not respond to requests for comment.

Members of the unit were observed by law enforcement converting stolen assets into the cryptocurrency ethereum, the FBI said in a statement, adding that it expects "further laundering" of the assets through the use of related technology.

-Angela Christy and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Elizabeth Howcroft and Max Cherney; Editing by Jan Harvey, Sergio Non, Paul Simao and William Mallard/Reuters