U.S. sanctions cryptocurrency mixer used by N. Korea

美, ’北 핵개발 돈줄’ 해킹탈취 가상화폐 세탁 도운 업체 제재 The U.S. has sanctioned a cryptocurrency mixer accused of laundering money for North Korea. This marks Washington’s latest efforts to cut Pyongyang’s cyber activities used for funding its weapons programs. Lee Seung-jae has more. The U.S. Department of Treasury on Wednesday sanctioned , a virtual currency mixer used by North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group, adding them to its Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions list. The department added that the cryptocurrency mixer processed millions of dollars worth of virtual currency that the hacking group gained from its heists. Crypto-mixing services improve the anonymity of transactions and are used by criminals to make funds harder to trace. The sanction comes as the U.N. Panel of Experts on UN Security Council sanctions against the North said that Sinbad had laundered close to one hundred million U.S. dollars in Bitcoin for the Lazarus Group. The panel also explained that through its hacking group, North Korea was able to steal some one-point-seven billion dollars in cryptocurrency last year. The fresh sanction against the cryptocurrency mixer also comes as Pyongyang launched a space rocket last week to put a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit. However, both Seoul and Washington have been stepping up efforts to stop the regime’s cryptocurrency theft and other cybercrimes, as they can fund their weapons programs. The treasury department noted that “Lazarus Group has operated for more than ten years and is believed to have stolen over two billion dollars worth of digital assets across multiple thefts.“ Lazarus Group was previously sanctioned by Washington in 2019, as a “state-sponsored cyber hacking group“ of the North. Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News. #NorthKorea #cryptocurrency #US_Department_of_Treasury #economy #UnitedStates #sanctions #money_laundering #nuclear_weapons #missile #북한 #핵무기 #가상화폐 #Arirang_News #아리랑뉴스 📣 Facebook : 📣 Twitter : 📣 Homepage : 2023-11-30, 09:00 (KST)