(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday sanctioned Blender.io, a virtual currency mixer it said was tied to North Korea’s hacking and money laundering activities.
The action marks the first time Treasury has sanctioned a so-called “mixer,” which is used to hide the origin of illicit funds.
“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.”
The sanctioning of Blender follows action Treasury took earlier this year to sanction an Ethereum wallet address tied to the North Korean hacking group Lazarus, which is accused of stealing more than $600 million in cryptocurrency from a software bridge used for the popular Axie Infinity play-to-earn game. Treasury said it has identified and blocked four additional wallets tied to the group.
The Lazarus Group, a broad designation for suspected state-sponsored North Korean hackers, has spent years carrying out data breaches that result in large financial thefts. Along with global financial institutions, attackers have specifically focused on cryptocurrency, stealing nearly $400 million worth of digital assets in breaches on seven crypto platforms in 2021, according to the blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis Inc.
A panel of United Nations experts reportedly blamed North Korean cyber-actors for stealing more than $50 million between 2020 and mid-2021, using phishing emails and malicious software as part of various efforts.
Suspected North Korean hackers also carried out the 2016 heist at the Bangladesh Bank in which thieves transferred more than $100 million into their own accounts.
(Updated to include paragraphs five, six and seven to include additional detail.)
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