Trump says administration is examining Binance hack as calls for crypto rules grow

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US President Donald Trump said his administration was looking into the $6.3 billion hack of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, as the incident fuelled calls for tighter regulation and greater oversight of crypto companies.

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said the breach was partly caused by a compromised laptop belonging to a DevOps engineer. The attacker used access to a service container to submit unauthorised withdrawal transactions. Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs linked the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Trump said Binance had assured him it was working to return customers’ funds. He also expressed concern about the risks of digital assets, comparing crypto transactions with traditional payments by cheque.