US wins authority to seize $1.2bn from Binance hack

On Thursday, November 12, 2026, the Justice Department said it had obtained court authority to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance, according to the department’s announcement. U.S. and private-sector partners have frozen more than $2.7 billion in total, it said.

The department said North Korean military members, whom the FBI calls TraderTraitor, stole more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance on or about October 29. The FBI had attributed the theft to North Korea in an October 31 cyber alert, which said the stolen assets were being converted primarily into ether.

The FBI said it expected the assets to be laundered further through decentralized finance and instant-swap services. The Justice Department said the funds are also moving through cryptocurrency bridges, mixers and exchanges as investigators trace them.

Federal agencies and law enforcement partners have worked with virtual-asset service providers to freeze funds, DOJ said. The agencies involved include the Justice Department’s National Security Division and Criminal Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI, the Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation. Recovery efforts remain ongoing.

The $1.2 billion covered by the court action is part of the more than $2.7 billion frozen through government and private-sector efforts, according to DOJ. The department described the action as court-authorized seizure or restraint, and said tracing, seizure and forfeiture work continues.

The Associated Press reported that the theft was about $6.3 billion and that the U.S. government typically files a forfeiture claim with a judge in such cases. The judge then determines who has a legitimate claim to the recovered funds.

Sources

• announcement — justice.gov
• cyber alert — fbi.gov