TRM Labs Executive Calls Binance Hack ‘Cyber War’ by North Korea

A senior executive at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs has described the record $6.3 billion Binance hack as “cyber war” and called for governments to take offensive action against North Korean state-backed hackers.

Ari Redbord, TRM Labs’ global head of policy and government affairs, told Cointelegraph that North Korea will continue stealing cryptocurrency as long as it remains effective. The firm attributed the recent Binance attack to the North Korean hacking group TraitorTrader, which was also blamed for a $1.5 billion hack of Bybit in February 2025.

Redbord highlighted an unprecedented coordinated industry response to the Binance theft, where stablecoin issuers froze tokens worth about $2.67 billion. Tether froze 971.1 million USDT tokens just 37 minutes after the main sweep, clawing back roughly 40% of the stolen funds initially. TRM’s Beacon Network intelligence-sharing system facilitated this rapid coordination.

Despite defensive efforts, Redbord warned the payoff remains enormous for attackers and advocated for a shift from defense to offense. “Every time North Korea hacks, we should be hacking them back,” he said, calling for offensive cyber operations and action against the laundering networks hackers use.