CryptoNov 13, 2026, 1:36 AM UTC·1 min read

DOJ moves to seize $1.2 billion stolen from Binance by North Korea

A court has approved the US Justice Department's bid to seize $1.2 billion stolen from Binance by North Korea's TraderTraitor group. FaceStealer was shut down too.

Illustration of a gavel and a Binance-style crypto coin with a North Korean flag motif over a digital background. — Image: The Block

The US Justice Department has won court approval to seize $1.2 billion in crypto that North Korean hackers stole from Binance. It is one of the biggest clawbacks of state-linked stolen funds that we know of.

According to the DOJ, the theft was the work of TraderTraitor, a hacking group tied to North Korea. The court's go-ahead lets US authorities move to take the money rather than just track it.

The department also announced it had taken down a second operation, a deepfake scam called FaceStealer, which it links to North Korea. Deepfakes are AI-generated fake faces or videos that can pass as a real person.

What is TraderTraitor?

TraderTraitor is the name given to a North Korean hacking group that targets crypto companies. In this case the DOJ says it was behind the $1.2 billion taken from Binance, one of the world's largest crypto exchanges.

What does the seizure mean?

A seizure order does not mean the money is back in anyone's hands today. It gives the US government legal grounds to claim the funds. The material available so far does not say how the money will be recovered or who ends up with it, so those questions are open.

The FaceStealer takedown points at a different side of the same problem. Stealing crypto is one thing. Using fake faces to trick people is another, and the DOJ is now going after both.

Apps worth a look

SUMO: the number puzzle

Tap the right tiles, add them up, hit the target. Easy to learn, hard to master. Free, for all ages.

Dialo: learn languages by speaking

Talk to an AI conversation partner; every sentence comes back corrected and explained in your language. 9 languages, A1 to C2.

ediviewer: read EDI files like documents

Open EDIFACT and X12 messages, see every segment explained, convert to JSON/XML, export PDF and Excel. Runs locally, no upload.

giftdetect: the right gift in minutes

Pick who it is for, the occasion and their personality. The search engine reads product descriptions from local shops and ranks what fits. Free, no sign-up.

Tags:binancenorth koreatradertraitordojfacestealerdeepfake