Rabia İclal Turan
30 October 2026•Update: 30 October 2026
US President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington does not yet know whether a North Korean hacker group was behind the security breach at Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange
“We don’t know. We’re looking at that. We’re looking at that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the attribution.
Asked whether the funds could be clawed back, Trump said: “Well, they say they’re going to get it back, and they’re saying they’re guaranteeing it or something.”
“You know the old-fashioned way when you used to sign a check, take it out. These are different people. Never see the money anymore. So I’ve always felt it was a little bit dangerous,” he added.
“But no, they say they have it pretty much under control. We’ll see,” he said.
US-based blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs said a North Korean unit was likely behind the hack, which impacted more than $6 billion on Binance. TRM said it had “high confidence” that TraderTraitor, a subunit of the North Korean Lazarus Group, carried out the attack.
Chainalysis co-founder and CEO Jonathan Levin also wrote on X that the hack was likely done by the TraderTraitor group.
Binance has not confirmed who carried out the theft. The exchange suspended withdrawals and pledged to cover all losses, saying about $3 billion of the assets had been frozen on blockchain networks.
