Circle Freezes $1.1B USDC After $6B Binance Exploit Attributed to North Korea

The cryptocurrency industry is grappling with the aftermath of a massive security breach at Binance, with unauthorized transfers exceeding $6 billion. The attack, which began on October 29, 2026, has been attributed by the FBI to North Korean actors associated with the TraderTraitor group. In response, Circle, a leading stablecoin issuer, announced on November 5 that it froze approximately $1.1 billion in USDC linked to the incident in coordination with law enforcement. According to Chainalysis, the breach involved unauthorized transfers from Binance hot wallets across multiple blockchains, starting at approximately 4:20 p.m. Eastern Time on October 29.

Source: Blockchain.News