US Gets Court Nod to Seize $1.2 Billion From Binance Hack Haul

U.S. prosecutors have court approval to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion of the crypto stolen from Binance on Oct. 29, the Justice Department said Thursday. More than $2.7 billion has been frozen so far by government and private-sector efforts.

The department again blamed the theft of more than $6 billion on North Korean military hackers the FBI calls TraderTraitor. North Korea rejected the FBI's Oct. 31 finding, Black Mint reported Nov. 2, and had not publicly answered Thursday's announcement as of 6 p.m. ET.

A freeze is not yet a seizure

A freeze happens when an exchange or stablecoin issuer blocks an address or account so the coins can't move. A court-authorized seizure or restraint goes further: a judge lets the government take or hold the assets, which can lead to a civil forfeiture case and, eventually, a return to victims. About 44% of the frozen money has reached that court stage. Tracing continues as the hackers push funds through bridges, mixers and exchanges, the DOJ said.

Binance says customer balances are whole

Hours earlier, Binance said it "has completed coverage of assets impacted in the security incident," according to Bitcoin Magazine and Yonhap. The exchange said it spent more than $6.34 billion of company money, drawing on its SAFU user-protection fund, part of its futures insurance fund and its treasury. A new proof-of-reserves snapshot covers 198 tokens; the cryptographic proof that lets users check their own balances will take about 40 to 50 hours, Binance said.

Covering customers is not the same as recovering the stolen coins: Binance bought replacement tokens on the market.

A second scheme: fake video calls

The DOJ also said it seized cloud servers behind FaceStealer, a North Korean campaign it tied to more than $400 million in crypto theft over 18 months. Attackers used hijacked accounts to set up video calls, played recordings or deepfakes of people the victims knew, then faked a technical glitch to get them to install malware, the department said.

In our opinion: $1.2 billion in court hands is real progress, but it's less than a fifth of what was taken. The number to watch now is how much of the other $1.5 billion in frozen funds turns into forfeiture filings in Washington, D.C. FaceStealer is the sobering part: a familiar face on a video call is no longer proof of who is on the other end.