Did you catch the news? The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) just slapped penalties on Sinbad, a cryptocurrency mixer, over some serious allegations. Apparently, they’ve been tangled up in money laundering for North Korea’s Lazarus hacking group. The heat’s on because Sinbad’s accused of handling millions in virtual currency from Lazarus Group’s big hacks, like the Horizon Bridge, Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge, and Atomic Wallet, causing a whopping $820 million loss at that time.
Wally Adeyemo, the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, didn’t hold back, stressing the consequences for mixing services like Sinbad that let crooks clean their dirty money. The US government, alongside its partners, means business and will do whatever it takes to stop these virtual currency mixers from aiding shady dealings.
This got serious fast! The US Department of Justice, FBI, Netherlands’ Fiscal Information and Investigation Service, Public Prosecution Service, and Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation swooped in and shut down the Sinbad website. But here’s the twist – the Treasury clarified that these sanctions aren’t about punishment but about nudging these mixers to shape up.
OFAC’s done this before, cracking down on other cryptocurrency mixers like Tornado Cash and Blender, both accused of laundering funds for Lazarus. And guess what? There’s a sneaking suspicion that Sinbad and Blender might actually be the same, playing a sneaky game of rebranding to dodge sanctions.
Remember when the hammer came down on Tornado Cash? A bunch of folks backed by Coinbase took a swing at the US Treasury, claiming they overstepped their bounds. The court initially sided with the Treasury, but users fought back with an appeal in November. This showdown’s far from over!
