North Korea’s $620 million heist resulted in unprecedented sanctions.
As you know, some time ago Blender.io The cryptocurrency mixing service platform was exposed to a massive crypto theft. The repercussions of the incident still continue in the USA.
The stolen money allegedly used by North Korean hackers has been subject to US government sanctions.
such that U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)charges Blender.io with laundering more than $20.5 million of the estimated $620 million stolen from Ronin Network in March by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Brian Nelson, U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury responsible for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement on the subject.
Today, the Treasury is a first to impose sanctions on the virtual currency platform. Virtual currency platforms that assist in illegal transactions pose a threat to US national security interests. We take action against the illegal financial activities of the DPRK and will not let state-sponsored theft and money laundering providers go unanswered.
said.
Biggest Theft Detected To Date
The theft of Ethereum sidechain Ronin Network, created by Vietnamese blockchain game developer Sky Mavis, is considered to be the biggest theft case ever.
The US Government Claims…
The US government claims that the stolen money was used to finance North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Considering the estimates that North Korea stole $400 million during the entirety of last year, this amount represents a huge amount of criminal activity.