The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has added three
ethereum addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked
Persons List (SDN). OFAC alleges the ether addresses are controlled by
the Lazarus Group, a cybercrime group that is associated with North
Korea.
Lazarus Group Behind Axie Infinity Heist
The U.S. Treasury Department’s OFAC has added three ethereum
addresses that are allegedly associated linked with the Lazarus Group
cybercrime syndicate to its SDN list. The addition of the addresses
comes a few weeks after U.S. authorities accused the Lazarus Group and
North Korean hackers of being behind the $620 million Axie Infinity
heist.
As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, after reports of the hacking emerged, the U.S. government claimed
the cybercrime group was part of a group of hackers that spearheaded
the Ronin bridge attack that resulted in the siphoning of over 173,000
ethereum tokens. Also, prior to the department’s latest update, the
ethereum mixing project Tornado Cash revealed it was blocking OFAC sanctioned addresses from using the mixer.
North Korea Sanctions Evasion
In a statement
released via Twitter on April 22, the U.S. Treasury Department
suggested the blocking of access to funds at the designated addresses
would deprive the sanctions-evading North Korea of a vital source of
revenue. The statement explained:
OFAC added 3 virtual currency wallet addresses to the SDN
Listing for Lazarus Group. The DPRK [North Korea] has relied on illicit
activities like cybercrime to generate revenue while trying to evade
U.S. & UN sanctions.
While authorities in the U.S. insist the blockade will stop North
Korea from using the stolen crypto, an earlier report by Bitcoin.com
News suggested the cybercriminals would still be able to move the funds
by simply transferring the funds to an unsanctioned ether address.
Meanwhile, in addition to directly blocking the three ethereum
addresses, the U.S. Treasury Department statement warned against
transacting with these addresses. The statement suggested that those
doing so would become a target of U.S. sanctions.
source link : https://news.bitcoin.com/us-treasurys-ofac-adds-3-eth-addresses-linked-to-north-korean-cybercrime-group-to-sdn-list/
