US Treasury sanctions crypto mixer Sinbad, alleging North Korea ties

The United States Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) enforced sanctions on cryptocurrency mixer Sinbad, alleging the platform was accountable for laundering funds for the North Korea-based hacking group Lazarus.In a Nov. 29 statement, OFAC stated Sinbad had “processed countless dollars worth of virtual currency from Lazarus Group heists,” including the June 2022 hack of Horizon Bridge, the March 2022 hack of Axie Infinitys Ronin Bridge and the June 2023 hack of Atomic Wallet. The hacks resulted in a combined loss of approximately $820 million at the time.” Mixing services that allow criminal stars, such as the Lazarus Group, to wash stolen properties will deal with major effects,” said Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury. “The Treasury Department and its U.S. government partners stand ready to release all tools at their disposal to prevent virtual currency mixers, like Sinbad, from helping with illicit activities.” Screenshot of Sinbad.io as of Nov. 29As of Nov. 29, the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Netherlands Fiscal Information and Investigation Service and Public Prosecution Service and Finlands National Bureau of Investigation had taken the Sinbad website. Treasury added that sanctions were intended “not to penalize but to produce a positive change in behavior.” OFAC has actually previously sanctioned crypto mixers, consisting of Tornado Cash and Blender, the previous of which Treasury declared likewise washed funds for Lazarus. In February, danger management company Elliptic reported that it was “extremely likely” that Sinbad and Blender were one and the same based upon on-chain habits– a rebranding possibly in an effort to prevent sanctions.Related: Blockchain Association files support in suit to raise Tornado Cash sanctionsIts unclear how financiers within the crypto space might react to the Sinbad sanctions. Following the action versus Tornado Cash, a group of people backed by crypto exchange Coinbase submitted a suit against the U.S. Treasury, claiming the federal government department exceeded its authority. A judge ruled in favor of Treasury following a movement for summary judgment, but users submitted an appeal in November. Publication: Tornado Cash 2.0: The race to build legal and safe coin mixers