Nordic Crypto #5: Binance says most stolen assets have been replaced, and the FBI blames North Korea for the hack

Hi, and welcome to issue #5 of the Nordic Crypto newsletter, covering 26 October to 1 November 2026.

26 Oct–1 Nov 2026

The week’s crypto, bitcoin and blockchain stories from the Nordics that our editor has approved. Each item links to the story on Nordic Crypto.

Norway

Binance says about 90 percent of stolen assets have been replaced (original: Binance: – 90 prosent av alle midlar er gjenoppretta)
Binance says it has replaced about 90 percent of the assets stolen in the 29 October hack by buying them back with its own funds; the stolen funds themselves have not been returned. According to Binance, the remaining 10 percent are less liquid tokens that will be bought gradually, and it has published a Proof of Reserves snapshot. The exchange also says the transfer from its SAFU emergency fund has been completed.
NRK · 31 Oct 2026

FBI says North Korea's TraderTraitor was behind the Binance hack (original: Nord-Korea får skylden etter milliardkupp)
The FBI said on 31 October 2026 that North Korea was responsible for the theft of more than 6 billion US dollars in crypto assets from Binance on or about 29 October, and named the activity 'TraderTraitor', which is linked to the Lazarus group. The blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis had already linked the attack to the same group. According to the FBI, the stolen assets are mainly being converted into Ether, and the FBI, the US Secret Service and IRS-CI are asking crypto service providers to block transactions with the listed addresses.
E24 · 30 Oct 2026 · may require a subscription

Norwegian justice minister and Swedish experts concerned after Binance hack (original: Norsk justisminister og svenske tech-eksperter bekymret)
Norway's Minister of Justice and Public Security, Astri Aas-Hansen, told Aftenposten and NTB that the Binance theft shows that cybersecurity can in the most serious cases be a matter of public security, and pointed to the government's proposal to strengthen the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM). Niklas Arvidsson, a professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, told SvD that crypto exchanges lack the safeguards of the banking system, such as deposit guarantees and financial supervision. Journalists at TV4 and Dagens Industri said the incident damages trust in the system as a whole.
Kaupr · 30 Oct 2026

Binance confirms about 6.3 billion dollar loss in hack (original: Binance stanser uttak etter mulig rekordhack)
Binance confirms that it lost about 6.3 billion US dollars in the security incident on 29 October 2026, and says about 3 billion of that has been frozen. According to Binance, deposits are working normally and withdrawals are expected to reopen within 48 hours. The exchange says its investigation has found additional points of breach beyond the compromised employee computer identified earlier, and that user losses will be covered from its SAFU emergency fund and its own funds.
Investornytt · 29 Oct 2026

Kautokeino: data-centre plot decided politically, crypto company Arctic Core still involved (original: – Datasenter-tomt avgjort politisk: Kryptoselskapet fortsatt «inne»)
In Kautokeino, the mayor says the allocation of a plot for a planned data centre was handled politically, and the crypto company Arctic Core AS is still part of the plans, Ságat reports. According to the municipal director, the company is to test the possibility of a data centre over two years. The story follows earlier Ságat coverage of the company's plans in the municipality.
Ságat · 28 Oct 2026 · may require a subscription

Lithuanian e-money firm VIALET to use tokenised money market funds via Axiology (original: VIALET henter tokeniserte pengemarkedsfond via Axiology)
VIALET, a Lithuanian electronic money institution, has partnered with Axiology to use tokenised money market funds for safeguarding client funds and for treasury management, the companies announced on 27 October 2026. Axiology runs a DLT trading and settlement system under the EU's DLT Pilot Regime, supervised by the Bank of Lithuania. A separate arrangement with a liquidity provider is meant to give VIALET access to cash during the day without changing the funds' redemption terms. VIALET says it manages about 150 million euros in assets.
Kaupr · 27 Oct 2026

ESMA seeks input on tokenisation of collateral posted to central counterparties (original: ESMA ber om faktagrunnlag: Tokenisering av sikkerheit som blir stilt overfor sentrale motpartar (CCP))
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a call for evidence on the tokenisation of collateral posted to central counterparties (CCPs). ESMA wants to understand how tokenisation would affect the collateral CCPs collect and to gather information for deciding whether it needs to act. Stakeholders can respond until 15 January 2027. Norway's Finanstilsynet, which reported on the call, says it wants to hear about matters that are important for the Norwegian market.
Finanstilsynet · 26 Oct 2026

Latvia's economy minister aims for tokenisation rules in 2027 (original: Latvia vil tokenisere næringseiendom fra 2027)
Latvia's economy minister, Viktors Valainis, said at the UN:BLOCK conference in Riga that he aims to have rules for the tokenisation of real-world assets ready in the first half of 2027, with commercial real estate as a possible starting point, CoinDesk reported on 25 October 2026. This is the minister's goal, not adopted policy: an assessment that was due on 1 October is still ongoing, and a new government is being formed. Norwegian site Kaupr also reported the story.
Kaupr · 26 Oct 2026

DTCC plans commercial launch of tokenisation service for 25 securities (original: Oppgjørsgigant bak Wall Street setter tokenisering av verdipapirer i drift)
US securities settlement group DTCC has announced a blockchain-based tokenisation service that it plans to bring into commercial use in October 2026, according to DTCC and secondary reports. The service is planned to cover 25 securities at launch and to run on the Canton and Hyperledger Besu networks, with Stellar and Circle's Arc expected in 2027. Kaupr, which reported the story, says the securities include US Treasuries, ETFs and Russell 1000 shares. We have not confirmed that the service is already live.
Kaupr · 26 Oct 2026

Sweden

Coinbase reports third-quarter net income of 719 million dollars, mostly from crypto gains (original: Coinbase rapport Q3 2026: Kryptovinster lyfter resultatet)
Coinbase reported net income of 718.7 million US dollars for the third quarter of 2026, up from 432.6 million a year earlier. About 715 million dollars of that came from gains on crypto assets the company holds as investments. Total revenue fell 35 percent from a year earlier to about 1.22 billion dollars.
hurbra · 30 Oct 2026

Galaxy Digital reports third-quarter net income of 323 million dollars (original: Galaxy Digital Q3 Rapport visar vinst på $323 miljoner och aktien rusar)
US crypto and data-centre company Galaxy Digital reported net income of 323 million dollars for the third quarter of 2026, after a loss of 85 million dollars in the second quarter. The company attributes the result to its digital-assets business, gains on its investment portfolio and the first full quarter of leasing revenue from its data-centre business.
Kryptovalutaguiden · 29 Oct 2026

Sweden's Finansinspektionen seeks participants for guidance project on tokenised money (original: Anmäl intresse att delta i vägledningsprojekt om tokeniserade pengar)
Sweden's Finansinspektionen (FI) is inviting interested parties to join a reference group for a new guidance project on tokenised money under its Innovation Compass. The project covers questions that can arise when payments are made using distributed ledger technology (DLT), such as tokenised bank deposits, e-money tokens under MiCA and central bank money on DLT. Kaupr reports that the deadline to register interest is 22 November.
Finansinspektionen · 29 Oct 2026

Crypto tax service Kryptos launches ChatGPT plugin for portfolio questions (original: Kryptos åpner kryptoporteføljen for ChatGPT)
Crypto portfolio and tax service Kryptos has launched a ChatGPT plugin that lets users ask about portfolio value, cost basis, gains and tax figures, with answers drawn from the wallets and exchanges they have connected. According to Kryptos, the plugin cannot trade, transfer or withdraw assets, and using it requires a paid Kryptos plan.
Kaupr · 29 Oct 2026

Bitcoin Suisse prepares Nordic launch under MiCA licence (original: Bitcoin Suisse klar til lansering i Norden)
Bitcoin Suisse (Europe), the EU arm of the Swiss crypto company Bitcoin Suisse, received a MiCA licence in June 2026, which allows it to offer crypto-asset services in the European Economic Area. According to a LinkedIn post by the company's Nordic general manager, cited by Kaupr, it plans to launch in the Nordic countries in early November, ahead of an event in Stockholm on 19 November.
Kaupr · 29 Oct 2026

GreenMerc reports unauthorised access to customer data at crypto subsidiary NorthCrypto (original: Uvedkommende fikk tilgang til kundedata i NorthCrypto)
Swedish company GreenMerc says unauthorised parties gained access to customer data at its Finnish crypto subsidiary NorthCrypto through a vulnerability in a third-party reporting tool, and that personal data may have been exposed. According to the company, crypto keys were not affected, and one unauthorised withdrawal was caused by human error; the customer will be compensated.
Kaupr · 28 Oct 2026

Zcash co-founder proposes ending automatic funding for Zcash Community Grants (original: Zcash-grundare i öppet bråk om fond värd 125 miljoner dollar)
Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe has published a draft Zcash Improvement Proposal that would stop the 8 % share of new block rewards going to Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) and send it to the Network Sustainability Mechanism, a protocol reserve, instead. ZCG would keep the treasury it already holds, which the draft puts at about 125 million dollars at an illustrative ZEC price of 1,300 dollars, using figures it says have not been independently reconciled. Josh Swihart, founder of the Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), replied that both funding streams, including the 12 % coinholder fund, should be ended. The proposal is a draft with no activation date.
Kryptovalutaguiden · 27 Oct 2026

Goobit presents planned Futureproof savings product combining bitcoin and gold (original: Slik skal Futureproof rebalansere bitcoin og gull automatisk)
Goobit Group, a listed Swedish company, is presenting Futureproof, a planned savings product that, the company says, automatically rebalances between bitcoin, gold and an interest-bearing part according to the customer's risk profile. Return figures shown for the product, such as a median return of about 25 % over three years, are the company's own calculations and have not been independently verified. Goobit says a rights issue of units is running until 5 November 2026; this is not a recommendation to subscribe and not investment advice.
Kaupr · 26 Oct 2026

Denmark

Danish Coop Bank opens read-only AI access to investment accounts; Bitpanda adds AI tools (original: Bitpanda og danske Coop Bank åpner kontoen for AI-agenter)
Danish Coop Bank lets customers connect AI assistants to their investment accounts through an MCP connection, but the bank says the connection is read-only: it can answer questions about holdings but cannot place orders. Coop Bank's investment service covers shares and funds, not crypto. Kaupr also reports that the Austrian crypto platform Bitpanda is opening customer portfolios to ChatGPT and other AI assistants.
Kaupr · 28 Oct 2026

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Nordic Crypto is run by Jørgen S. Notland (jQrgen), Oslo. Made with the help of artificial intelligence, with human editors (jQrgen and the Nordic Crypto editor). Not investment advice.

The Nordic Crypto team