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- The United States Treasury Department has added three Ethereum wallet addresses to sanctions for their alleged connection to a hacker group.
- The U.S. authorities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity, and Infrastructure Security Agency, have claimed that the group has taken more than 25.5 million USD Coin (USDC) and 173,600 Ether (ETH) in March from the Ronin sidechain.
- In a Friday tweet, the U.S. government department hinted that the addition of the addresses is to stop North Korea from evading sanctions levied by the United Nations and the United States.
After finding a link to the alleged hacker group, three Ethereum wallet addresses are added to sanctions by the United States Treasury Department under the theft of over $600 million in crypto from non-fungible token game Axie Infinity’s Ronin sidechain.
OFAC, or the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, in a Friday update, listed three Ethereum addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals restrictions for North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cybersecurity, and Infrastructure Security Agency, along with other U.S. authorities, have alleged the group for grabbing over 25.5 million USD Coin (USDC) and 173,600 Ether (ETH) in March from the Ronin sidechain. The value of the tokens is over $600 million at the time.
In a Friday tweet, the U.S. government department noted that the addition of the addresses is to prevent North Korea from evading sanctions levied by the United Nations and the United States.
At least one of the wallet addresses that have a link to Ronin hackers has transferred funds to crypto mixers services such as Tornado Cash, as per the Blockchain records.
North Korea has committed a theft of around $400 million in cryptocurrency via cyberattacks in 2021, as per the reports of Chainalysis. This means that the Ronin theft can be possibly the largest theft to date. Ether and Bitcoin got stolen in big amounts, at 58% and 20%, respectively, while other tokens at 22%.
The addition of the ETH is the latest measure to identify crypto assets that are imposed by OFAC as a source of funding for sanctioned governments.
The government department revealed in April that Hydra, a darknet marketplace based in Russia, and Garantex, a digital currency exchange, are under its target for their alleged collections to payments cybercrimes, including ransomware attacks, along with BitRiver, a crypto mining firm.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
