US Treasury’s OFAC Adds 3 ETH Addresses Linked to North Korean Cybercrime Group to SDN List – The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Treasury Department has placed three ethereum addresses to its SDN list that are reportedly tied to the Lazarus Group cybercrime syndicate.
The addresses were added a few weeks after the Lazarus Group and North Korean hackers were accused of being behind the $620 million Axie Infinity robbery by US officials.
The US authorities stated the cybercrime gang was part of a network of hackers who spearheaded the Ronin bridge attack, which resulted in the siphoning of over 173,000 ethereum tokens, as previously reported. Prior to the department’s newest update, Tornado Cash, an ethereum mixing project, stated that it was preventing OFAC-sanctioned addresses from utilizing the mixer.
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The US Treasury Department said on April 22 via Twitter that restricting access to funds at the identified locations would deprive sanctions-evading North Korea of a crucial source of revenue.
The statement went on to say:
“The SDN Listing for Lazarus Group now includes three virtual currency wallet addresses from OFAC. While attempting to avoid US and UN sanctions, the DPRK (North Korea) has depended on illegal operations such as cybercrime to make revenue.”
While US authorities claim the blockage will prevent North Korea from accessing the stolen cryptocurrency, it was previously reported that cybercriminals may still move the funds by simply moving them to an unregistered ether address.
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US Treasury’s OFAC Adds 3 ETH Addresses Linked to North Korean Cybercrime Group to SDN List – In the meantime, the US Treasury Department issued a statement warning against trading with the three ethereum addresses, in addition to blocking them directly. The statement implied that those who did so would be subject to US sanctions.