On Wednesday, the US enforced sanctions on Sinbad. According to the Treasury Department, the virtual currency mixer has processed cryptocurrency worth millions of dollars from major heists executed by North Korea-associated hackers.
Sinbad Facilitated North Korea Hacking
In a statement, the United States Treasury Department said that Sinbad, a virtual currency mixer, processed virtual currency worth millions of dollars from attacks executed by Lazarus Group, a North Korean cybercrime group. The funds processed include the Horizon Bride and Axie Infinity heists amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
The United States has sanctioned Lazarus, with the group being accused of executing some of the greatest virtual currency heists. For instance, in March last year, they reportedly stole virtual currency worth an estimated $620M from a blockchain project associated with Axie Infinity, an online game.
Sinbad Portrayed a Lifeline for Criminal Actors Orchestrating Crypto Hacks
Chainalysis recently revealed that Sinbad facilitated move $100 million exploited from Atomic Wallet by the dreaded Lazarus Group.
The report by the crypto analyst firm indicates that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) considers Sinbad to be the entity that replaced Blender.io, a mixing service platform sanctioned in 2022.
OFAC considers that a third of funds processed by now-sanctioned Sinbad were traced from crypto hacks.
In a Wednesday statement, Wally Adeyemo, the Deputy Treasury Secretary, said that combining services that make it possible for criminals like Lazarus Group to launder stolen assets results in grave penalties.
War Against Crypto Hackers
The Treasury Department and its United States government partners are prepared to use all available tools to avert virtual currency mixers, for instance, Sinbad, from promoting illegal activities. A virtual currency mixer is a software tool that combines and jumbles up cryptocurrencies from numerous addresses.
According to some industry experts, Sinbad will replace the Blender mixer, sanctioned last year following claims that North Korea was utilizing it. The Treasury claimed that cybercriminals are also utilizing Sinbad to block transactions associated with various activities, for instance, drug trafficking, sanctions circumvention, buying child sexual abuse content, and more destructive activities.
Wednesday’s intervention freezes Sinbad’s United States assets and prevents citizens from dealing with the cryptocurrency mixer. Anyone who engages in specific actions with the mixer risks sanctions.
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