US Treasury Sanctions Crypto Mixer Blender.io Exploited for DPRK Illegal Activities

​

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Friday that it has sanctioned virtual currency mixer Blender.io (Blender), which is used by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to support its malicious cyber activities and money-laundering of stolen virtual currency. 

Fazzaco Live Webinar on 12th May: Vladimir Moshkov on How to Start a Crypto Exchange from Scratch​

On March 23, 2022, Lazarus Group, a DPRK state-sponsored cyber hacking group, carried out the largest virtual currency heist to date, worth almost $620 million, from a blockchain project linked to the online game Axie Infinity; Blender was used in processing over $20.5 million of the illicit proceeds. Under the pressure of robust U.S. and UN sanctions, the DPRK has resorted to illicit activities, including cyber-enabled heists from cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions, to generate revenue for its unlawful weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs.

"Today, for the first time ever, Treasury is sanctioning a virtual currency mixer," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. "Virtual currency mixers that assist illicit transactions pose a threat to U.S. national security interests. We are taking action against illicit financial activity by the DPRK and will not allow state-sponsored thievery and its money-laundering enablers to go unanswered."

Treasury is also updating the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) to identify additional virtual currency addresses used by the Lazarus Group to launder illicit proceeds. Treasury is committed to exposing components of the virtual currency ecosystem, like Blender, that are critical to the obfuscation of the trail of stolen proceeds from illicit cyber activity. OFAC sanctioned the Lazarus Group on September 13, 2019, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13722, and identified it as an agency, instrumentality, or controlled entity of the Government of the DPRK, based on its relationship to the U.S.- and UN-designated Reconnaissance General Bureau, the DPRK's premiere intelligence organization, which is also involved in conventional arms trade.