On Friday, the U.S Treasury Department announced sanctions against a crypto mixer it accused North Korea of using as part of its malicious cyber activities program to launder stolen digital currency.
This is the first time the Treasury has blacklisted a crypto mixer.
The Treasury alleges Blender.io is frequently used by suspicious groups to mix various transactions and that it is used to launder money for several Russian-related ransomware groups.
“Virtual currency mixers that assist illicit transactions pose a threat to U.S. national security interests,”
Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
As a result of U.S. and UN sanctions, North Korea reportedly relies on illegal cyber activities to fund its ballistic missile program, the Treasury said. Examples include bitcoin heists and hacks of cryptocurrency exchanges, it added.
The Treasury Department reported that Blender.io laundered more than $20.5 million of proceeds from Lazarus Group’s nearly $620 million cryptocurrency heist involving the online game Axie Infinity.
The recent theft by the Lazarus Group, which the U.S. sanctioned in 2019 on allegations it was an agency of North Korea, was the largest heist of virtual currencies to date.