Abu Dhabi's FSRA monitors Binance as FBI joins $6.3B hack probe
Abu Dhabi's FSRA says it is engaging closely with Binance after the $6.3 billion hack, while the FBI and US Secret Service are assisting the investigation.
REGULATIONSECURITY & HACKSNEWS
Lukas Brenner
10/30/20262 min read
Abu Dhabi's Financial Services Regulatory Authority said on Oct. 30 that it is aware of the security incident at Binance involving unauthorised withdrawals of assets and is engaging closely with the exchange while monitoring the situation, according to Gulf News and Khaleej Times.
The FSRA, which regulates the Abu Dhabi Global Market financial centre, said its priorities are protecting clients and keeping markets fair and orderly. It did not give further details or announce any action. Binance holds FSRA licences for exchange, clearing and custody, and broker-dealer entities in the free zone, and said it expected to begin regulated operations there on Jan. 5, 2026, Cryptopolitan reported earlier.
In the United States, the FBI and the US Secret Service are working with Binance on the investigation, a person familiar with the situation told Reuters on Oct. 30. The US embassy in London declined to comment, and the Secret Service did not reply to a request sent outside US business hours. Circle said its freeze of more than $800 million in USDC was carried out in coordination with law enforcement, and Binance said it is cooperating with authorities to trace and recover funds.
North Korea in focus
Blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis have linked the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit. The FBI attributed the $1.5 billion Bybit theft in February 2025 to the same group. North Korea's mission in Geneva and its embassy in China did not immediately respond to Reuters, and Pyongyang routinely denies using state-linked cyber units for theft.
Beyond these steps, official reactions have been limited so far. Reuters, CoinDesk and Forbes coverage on Oct. 30 cited no statements from US market regulators or lawmakers on the breach. Moody's Ratings vice president Cristiano Ventricelli told Reuters the wider credit and industry consequences will depend on final losses. OKX founder Star Xu urged exchange executives to coordinate on measures such as extra checks and short delays for large withdrawals to unknown addresses and faster lawful freezes with stablecoin issuers, CoinDesk reported.
The case also revives attention on Binance's compliance history: founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to a felony tied to anti-money-laundering failures and was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025. Binance has promised a detailed technical report once its investigation concludes.
Source: Gulf News, Khaleej Times, Reuters, CoinDesk