The FBI announced Thursday that it has seized more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, in an October heist attributed to North Korean hackers.

The theft of approximately $6.3 billion occurred on or about October 29 and ranks as the biggest crypto heist in history. U.S. authorities and private companies have now frozen more than $2.7 billion of the stolen funds combined. The Justice Department secured court authorization to seize or restrain over $1.2 billion of that amount.

Federal officials have linked the operation to the North Korean hacking group known as TraderTraitor, part of the regime's military cyber efforts. The group has been tied to prior large-scale thefts, including a $1.5 billion incident at Bybit earlier. Investigators observed the hackers converting assets primarily into Ethereum and moving them through bridges, mixers, and exchanges.

The $1.2 billion figure represents legal authority over already-frozen assets rather than newly recovered funds. The government plans to pursue forfeiture claims in court to determine ownership. Efforts to trace and recover additional assets continue as hackers attempt further laundering.

In a separate action announced the same day, the FBI attributed a social engineering campaign called FaceStealer to North Korea. That scheme, which involves hijacked messaging apps and deepfake videos, has stolen more than $400 million in cryptocurrency over the past 18 months. Authorities also disrupted related cloud infrastructure.

U.S. officials have long accused North Korea of using cyber theft to fund its weapons programs and evade sanctions. The FBI issued alerts urging virtual asset providers to block transactions tied to the identified addresses.