U.S. Treasury Department Undersecretary Wally Adeyemo attends the Reuters NEXT Newsmaker event in New York City, New York, U.S., December 1, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/Photo by archive Acquire license rights
WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a virtual currency mixer that the Treasury Department says has processed millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from major heists carried out by hackers linked to North Korea .
The Treasury Department said in a statement that virtual currency mixer Sinbad, which was sanctioned on Wednesday, processed millions of dollars in virtual currency from heists carried out by the North Korea-linked Lazarus Group, including the Axie Infinity heists. and Horizon Bridge. of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Lazarus, who has been sanctioned by the United States, has been accused of carrying out some of the biggest virtual currency heists till the date. In March 2022, for example, he allegedly stole around 620 million dollars in virtual currency of a blockchain project linked to the Axie Infinity online game.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in January that Lazarus was responsible for the theft of $100 million from the Horizon Bridge of the American crypto company Harmony.
"Mixing services that allow criminal actors, like the Lazarus Group, to launder stolen assets will face serious consequences," Treasury Undersecretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement Wednesday.
"The Treasury Department and its U.S. government partners stand ready to deploy every tool at their disposal to prevent virtual currency mixers, like Sinbad, from facilitating illicit activities."
Sinbad did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. His website displays a message that the service has been seized as part of a coordinated law enforcement action between the FBI and agencies in Finland and the Netherlands.
North Korea's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A virtual currency mixer is a software tool that pools and scrambles cryptocurrencies from thousands of addresses.
Some industry experts believe that Sinbad is the successor to the blender blenderthat the United States applied sanctions last year over accusations that it was being used by North Korea.
The Treasury said cybercriminals also use Sinbad to conceal transactions linked to activities such as sanctions evasion, drug trafficking and the purchase of child sexual abuse materials, among other malign activities.
Wednesday's action freezes any U.S. assets owned by Sinbad and generally prohibits Americans from dealing with him. Those who engage in certain transactions with the mixer also risk being penalized.
Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Bite Singh and Paul Grant; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao
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