Binance says outflows normalised as North Korea rejects US allegation over heist

By Jack Kim, Kyu-seok Shim and Rae Wee

SEOUL/SINGAPORE, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Asset outflows from Binance have normalised and the company was in "very strong financial health", its co-CEO said, as North Korea dismissed as "absurd rhetoric" US allegations that it was behind a $6.3 billion cryptocurrency heist on its platform.

The world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, whose customers had withdrawn a net $4.72 billion as of Monday after it was hit with what could be the largest-ever financial heist last week, has also launched a campaign to stem outflows and woo new users.

"In the first 24 hours, there was a spike in terms of withdrawals, as can be expected. But after that ... it's pretty much normalised," Richard Teng told a Hong Kong Fintech Week event on Tuesday.

"The company is in very strong financial health," he said, adding 95% of the affected tokens had been replenished. "This is something that we can cover. We are able to do so."

The crypto exchange was seeing "hourly deposits exceed withdrawals", Binance said in an X post earlier on Tuesday, adding that it reflected improving user activity and stabilising flows.

The FBI said at the weekend that North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than $6 billion in crypto assets, a crime that sent shockwaves through the industry.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the US allegations proved Washington remained hostile towards Pyongyang, according to a report on Tuesday by state news agency KCNA.

Pyongyang has not responded to US President Donald Trump's overtures, made earlier this year, to resume summit diplomacy. In the wake of the US allegations, Kim Yo Jong said North Korea had "issues to reconsider" over what she called US hostility.

"The FBI is trying to brand the DPRK as a 'cyber criminal state,' claiming that it obtained information that a hacking organization 'supported' by the DPRK was involved in the incident," KCNA quoted Kim Yo Jong as saying.

"But the US assertion is absurd rhetoric and nothing new," said Kim, a ruling party official. DPRK is short for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"It is a grave political provocation against the DPRK that the US misleads international public opinion as if all the cyber crimes in different parts of the world are our deeds."

REVENUE STREAM

North Korea faces growing scrutiny over cryptocurrency theft, which analysts say is a key source of funds for its weapons programmes.

Cybersecurity experts say North Korean hackers are among the world's most prolific crypto thieves and the proceeds help fund the country's efforts to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles capable of hitting the United States.

North Korea has stolen cryptocurrency worth $7.6 billion this year, more than in any previous year, according to estimates by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

North Korea denies allegations linking it to cryptocurrency theft and other cybercrimes.

Analysts in Seoul said Pyongyang's unusually swift response likely reflected concern that the allegation could lead to tighter efforts to disrupt revenue streams that North Korea is accused of using to finance its weapons.

"With sanctions already in place, cryptocurrency theft has become one of North Korea's key channels for securing funds for regime maintenance and weapons development," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies.

Additional US measures targeting crypto wallets, laundering networks and cryptocurrency exchanges could choke off an important source of revenue, Lim said.

South Korea's central bank estimated North Korea's gross domestic product at 47.18 trillion won ($35.09 billion) in 2025, meaning the Binance theft could be equivalent to about a sixth of its economic output.

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimated 89% of crypto hack losses in 2026 were linked to North Korea, up from 15% in 2021. It said the average reported loss per hack rose from $50.65 million in 2021 to $185.65 million in 2026.

"I guess you could call it big game hunting, where they're targeting these larger exchanges that may take more time and more complexity to be able to do ... but the payoff can be relatively large," said Alec Zebrick, senior manager of Asia-Pacific Global Services at Chainalysis.

North Korea is one of the world's most impoverished countries but has poured resources secured through illicit means and activities banned under UN Security Council resolutions into its missile and nuclear programmes.

Kim Yo Jong said North Korea would "reconsider" unspecified issues in light of the "very unpleasant US hostile attitude", without elaborating. North Korea has not publicly responded to Trump's offers to resume summit diplomacy.

BINANCE WITHDRAWALS

Binance launched a campaign on Monday offering fee rebates, rewards to eligible users who rack up at least $10,000 in cumulative trading volume, as well as annual percentage rates of up to 10% on certain yield-generating products.

The exchange's "community appreciation campaign" will run through November 21, a post on its website showed.

Binance, which froze withdrawals for more than two days after the hack and then started allowing customers to withdraw again on Sunday morning in some assets, reopened withdrawals for more assets on Tuesday.

Since the resumption of withdrawals, Binance has seen net outflows amounting to around 3% of the assets on its platform, it said on Monday, a relatively modest figure that analysts said suggested customer confidence had largely held up.

"The relatively contained price reaction suggests a degree of maturity and resilience," said Maksym Repa, head of DeFi at Lombard, a Bitcoin finance protocol backed by Franklin Templeton.

"Investors appear to be distinguishing between a security failure at a centralised exchange and a problem with the Bitcoin network itself."

($1 = 1,344.4300 won)

(Reporting by Jack Kim, Kyu-seok Shim and Maggie Grether in Seoul; Rae Wee and Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; and Summer Zhen in Hong Kong; Editing by Ed Davies, Sumeet Chatterjee, Stephen Coates and Saad Sayeed)