U.S. Seizes $1.2 Billion in Crypto Stolen from Binance in North Korea Case
The forfeiture action marks one of the largest government crypto recoveries on record and directly implicates state-sponsored hacking as a persistent risk for digital asset markets accessible to...
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on November 13, 2026, that it had seized approximately $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency tied to the hack of Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume. According to a CNBC report citing the DOJ announcement, federal prosecutors stated the action targeted funds stolen by agents of the North Korean government.
The DOJ said the seizure was part of ongoing efforts to disrupt what it described as North Korea's use of cryptocurrency theft to finance its regime. The department stated explicitly that the stolen assets were part of Pyongyang's broader scheme to generate hard currency through digital asset crimes, according to the CNBC report.
Binance, incorporated outside the United States but accessible to U.S.-based traders and institutional investors through various platforms and paired assets, has been the subject of prior U.S. Regulatory and law enforcement action. In 2023, Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao agreed to pay $4.3 billion to resolve charges brought by the DOJ, the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to DOJ press releases from that period.
The $1.2 billion figure cited in the November 13 announcement has not been broken down by asset type in the publicly available statement summarized by CNBC. It is not yet known which specific cryptocurrencies were seized, in what proportions, or how their values were calculated at the time of forfeiture. A detailed DOJ court filing would be the document most likely to disclose that information.
North Korea has been identified repeatedly by U.S. Government agencies as a leading state actor in cryptocurrency theft. The FBI and the Office of Foreign Assets Control have published advisories naming the Lazarus Group, a hacking collective attributed to Pyongyang, as responsible for multiple high-profile crypto heists. The United Nations Panel of Experts on North Korea estimated in a 2024 report that the country had stolen approximately $3 billion in crypto assets between 2017 and 2023, though that figure predates the Binance seizure announced today.
For U.S. Investors and exchanges, the case illustrates the ongoing counterparty and custodial risk embedded in holding or trading assets on centralized platforms, even large ones. When an exchange is compromised, stolen funds can be laundered through mixing services or cross-chain bridges before reaching final destinations, complicating recovery efforts. The fact that DOJ was able to execute a $1.2 billion seizure suggests federal blockchain analytics capabilities have expanded, though the specific investigative methods have not been disclosed publicly.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission both maintain jurisdiction over various categories of digital assets traded on U.S. Markets. Neither agency issued a concurrent statement as of the time of this report. It is not known whether either regulator has opened parallel proceedings related to this seizure.
U.S. Crypto markets responded with limited immediate movement following the announcement, based on publicly available price data as of market hours on November 13, 2026. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance's native BNB token did not post moves exceeding two percent in either direction in the hours following the news, according to publicly available exchange data, though intraday volatility figures have not been formally compiled at the time of publication.
The case adds to a growing body of DOJ crypto enforcement actions. In 2022, the department seized approximately $3.6 billion in Bitcoin connected to the 2016 Bitfinex hack, then described by the DOJ as the largest financial seizure in department history, according to a DOJ press release from February 2022. The Binance-linked seizure announced today, at $1.2 billion, is smaller in nominal dollar terms but represents a continuation of the federal government's stated priority of pursuing state-sponsored crypto crime.
What remains unknown is the ultimate disposition of the seized assets, whether they will be liquidated, held in a government wallet, or returned to victims. DOJ procedures for forfeited cryptocurrency vary by case, and no announcement on asset handling has been made as of this report. Court filings in the relevant federal district, once available, would be the primary source for that information.