WASHINGTON — Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has pledged to cover all user losses following a major security breach involving more than $6 billion, as US President Donald Trump said Washington had yet to determine whether North Korean hackers were responsible for the attack.Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said US authorities were examining claims linking the breach to a North Korean hacking group.“We don’t know. We’re looking at that. We’re looking at that,” Trump said when asked whether North Korea was behind the incident.Asked whether the stolen funds could be recovered, Trump said Binance appeared confident about its ability to address the situation.“Well, they say they’re going to get it back, and they’re saying they’re guaranteeing it or something,” he said.Trump also expressed concerns about the risks associated with cryptocurrency transactions.“You know the old-fashioned way when you used to sign a check, take it out. These are different people. Never see the money anymore. So I’ve always felt it was a little bit dangerous,” he said.“But no, they say they have it pretty much under control. We’ll see,” he added.Early Saturday, Binance announced that it was managing the security incident and had allocated more than $6.34 billion in company reserves, including its Secure Asset Fund for Users, to protect customer balances and cover the impact of the breach.“Your funds are safe; Binance is covering the impact of this incident, not you,” the exchange said in a statement.Binance said $5 billion of the allocated reserves was held in the same token assets affected by the incident.The company also confirmed that approximately $3 billion in funds had already been frozen on blockchain networks through cooperation with industry partners.According to its preliminary investigation, Binance found no evidence that wallet private keys had been compromised, while customer deposits and general trading activities remained unaffected.However, the exchange temporarily suspended withdrawals as a precautionary measure while conducting a security review of its withdrawal services and associated addresses.Binance said it had revoked authorizations on affected addresses and was working with law enforcement agencies, token issuers, blockchain intelligence companies and industry partners to trace and recover the affected assets.Meanwhile, US-based blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs said it had “high confidence” that TraderTraitor, a unit associated with North Korea’s Lazarus Group, was responsible for the attack.Chainalysis co-founder and CEO Jonathan Levin also said on X that the breach was likely carried out by the TraderTraitor group.Binance has not confirmed the identity of those responsible for the incident.The exchange said it would provide further updates on the restoration of withdrawal services and publish a comprehensive technical report once its investigation concludes.It also pledged to release an updated proof-of-reserves report to verify customer balances.
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