Crypto Mixer Used by North Korea Slapped With US Sanctions (bloomberg.com) 21
Tornado Cash, a popular cryptocurrency service that allows users to mask their transactions, was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department after North North Korean hackers relied on it to launder illicit gains, officials announced on Monday. The sanctions bar American companies and individuals from doing business with it. From a report: The platform facilitates anonymous transactions by mixing funds from different sources before transmitting them to the ultimate beneficiary. Tornado Cash has been used to launder more than $7 billion in virtual currency, a senior Treasury official said in a press conference. North Korea's Lazarus Group has laundered about $450 million through the service, according to the official. It was also used to launder more than $100 million in the June hack of the Harmony blockchain's Horizon Bridge, which allows crypto trading between other blockchains, the official said.
Described by administration officials as the go-to mixer for cyber criminals, Tornado Cash became the second such service targeted by the Treasury Department. In May, the agency issued sanctions against Blender.io, which was also allegedly used by North Korean hackers to launder illicit proceeds from hacking. Following the sanctions, it appears Blender.io is no longer operating, the official said. The action against Tornado is a "watershed" moment and the Treasury's "most significant action in the crypto space to date," said Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at TRM Labs, a blockchain analysis firm used by governments and financial institutions to fight fraud, money laundering and financial crime, in an email. "This designation sends a message that the US government will not tolerate mixing services that cannot stop illicit actors from using their services."
Described by administration officials as the go-to mixer for cyber criminals, Tornado Cash became the second such service targeted by the Treasury Department. In May, the agency issued sanctions against Blender.io, which was also allegedly used by North Korean hackers to launder illicit proceeds from hacking. Following the sanctions, it appears Blender.io is no longer operating, the official said. The action against Tornado is a "watershed" moment and the Treasury's "most significant action in the crypto space to date," said Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at TRM Labs, a blockchain analysis firm used by governments and financial institutions to fight fraud, money laundering and financial crime, in an email. "This designation sends a message that the US government will not tolerate mixing services that cannot stop illicit actors from using their services."
Blender.IO (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not sure where you see that. It says Blender.io has been sanctioned.
Lots of things that are sanctioned still work just fine. Tornado.cash will continue working indefinitely despite sanctions: it's distributed software that exists only on the blockchain. The sanction simply means that now it's illegal to use it if you are a U.S. Citizen.
Laws will stop the criminals (Score:1)
Yes, they can (Score:3)
:Laws will stop the criminals.
What's this going to affect? Won't they just start another service or implement an decentralized mixer?
"The US Justice Department attempted to close down BTC-e on the 26th of July 2017 when they charged Vinnik and BTC-e in a 21-count indictment for operating an alleged international money laundering scheme and allegedly laundering funds from the hack of Mt. Gox."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
The DOJ seized about 60% of the servers holding wallets. BTCe users lost about 60% of their coins. If they wanted them back they could properly identify themselves and their account to the DOJ.
Re: (Score:2)
Presumably anyone who tries to sell coins on an exchange that came from Tornado?
Re: Laws will stop the criminals (Score:2)
Anyone can run a mixer (Score:2)
This is the âoerun your own bankâ argument. It was significantly cheaper for the NK group to use someone elseâ(TM)s service but nothing was stopping them from mixing the coins on their own. During the Silk Road trial what came out was that Ulbrichtâ(TM)s mixer gave law enforcement a very difficult time. 10 years later itâ(TM)s probably still the same, assuming you account for the scale up of bitcoinâ(TM)s popularity.
The obvious progression from here is for a tainted coin list
Re: Anyone can run a mixer (Score:2)
How long has an iPhone been out and slashdot still does not support Unicode? SMH
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Do they support 8 bit ASCII yet?
That means things like the £ [British Pound Currency Symbol]
Re: (Score:2)
The "slashdot still does not support Unicode" phrase is just a meme by those people who can't keep the drool in their mouth, and then wonder that it causes shorts when it drip on their keyboard.
The bigger news (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't think we're going to go into a recession especially since we're about to pass a $700 billion dollar spending bill which will keep us out of it. But I do think regulation is going to kill the Ponzi scheme that is crypto
Re: (Score:3)
I think the point was it was decentralized (Score:3)
On the plus side the exchanges have manipulated the market to prevent the price of Bitcoin from collapsing (ala the Federal Reserve), so I guess that's good. But it was only possible because of massive centralization and market manipulation so that's bad. It does come with a
Re: (Score:2)
Crypto has taken the place of insurance companies and banks. Need I say more?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
I don't think we're going to go into a recession especially since we're about to pass a $700 billion dollar spending bill which will keep us out of it.
Increasing demand without fixing the supply chain issues is a recipe for inflation, not growth.
so Tornado works... (Score:2)
... is what I get from this. I was really skeptical. Hrm, surprising!
I am going to sanction USG cash as a major tool for money laundering, far greater than Tornado. Especially the billions in cash going to arms-running in Ukraine and turning over for clean cash in Cypress, from the wives of Russian mayors to the sons of US Presidents (not even starting on Sinopac Marketing).
OK, Kim Jung Un - such a Rocket Boy badass facing a new wave of famine to the degree that he's trying to offload 100,000 men onto Ru
Re:so Tornado works... (Score:4, Funny)
We'll miss you, your hundreds of dollars, and your significant influence on the global financial system.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Makes sense (Score:1)
sanctioned by the US Treasury Department after North North Korean hackers
Pyongyang is in the southern part of the nation, so while the northern provinces are screwed, the hackers in South North Korea are still in good shape.