The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has access to the Hydra Market, which it calls the world’s largest and prominent darknet market, and Russia-linked cryptocurrency exchange has imposed sanctions on Garantex.
“Russian Cybercrime and Ransomware Concern USA”
Saying that they are working with Germany and Estonia on the issue, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said:
“The global threat of cybercrime and ransomware originating from Russia, and the ability of crime leaders to continue their activities in Russia with impunity, deeply concerns the United States.”
Germany recently announced that the servers of the Hydra platform were shut down and that 543 of bitcoin announced that he had been captured.
The US Treasury Department also stated that 100 virtual currency addresses related to Hydra’s activities and used for illegal transactions were also detected.
OFAC also announced that as a result of its investigations, $8 million was obtained through ransomware and transferred to Hydra’s cryptocurrency accounts. Ransomware used includes programs such as Ryuk, Sodinokibi, and Conti.
Russia-Linked Cryptocurrency Exchange Is Also On The Sanction List
OFAC also announced that Garantex, a Russian-based cryptocurrency exchange, was placed on the sanctions list.
OFAC said that according to the work of Blockchain researchers, 86% of illegal Bitcoins entering Russian cryptocurrency exchanges were sent from Hydra.
US officials detailed the sanctions to be imposed on these platforms as follows:
“In accordance with today’s decisions, all property and interests of all the persons and entities mentioned above, located in or under the control of US persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, assets owned by more than 50% of these people were also blocked. All transactions by US persons to blocked persons are prohibited.”
*Not investment advice.