Binance Assures Customers Their Funds Are Completely Safe in North Korea

SINGAPORE — Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, assured customers that the $6.3 billion drained from its wallets late Thursday is “completely safe,” adding that it is now being held in one of the most heavily guarded countries on Earth.

“User funds are completely safe,” the exchange said in a statement. Its help center now clarifies that the money is sitting behind a demilitarized zone, several rows of razor wire and an estimated 1.2 million soldiers. A new FAQ titled “Where Is My Money?” describes the funds as “resting comfortably in Pyongyang.”

Analysts at TRM Labs and Chainalysis said they were highly confident a North Korean hacking unit carried out the theft, most of which took about 20 minutes. Binance said the breach may have started with an engineer’s hacked laptop, which has since been wrapped in a bicycle chain and fitted with a sticky note reading “DO NOT LEND TO NORTH KOREA.”

“Honestly, this is the first time in four years I’ve known exactly where my money is,” said Marlon Bitterfeld, 38, a pool-supply salesman in Ocala, Florida, who kept most of his savings in a coin shaped like a frog. “It’s overseas. It’s working. That’s more than I can say for my brother.”

The company said withdrawals are suspended for now and that it will cover all losses. Customers hoping to visit their balances were reminded that U.S. passports are not valid for travel to North Korea, but that a coin-operated viewer on a South Korean observation deck offers three minutes of looking at the funds for 500 won.

Company officials later confirmed that roughly half the stolen assets had been frozen, while the other half had been “seen making friends.”