Tornado Cash faces another sanction from the US government

November 23, 2022
Tornado Cash Sanction US Lazarus Threat Group Money Laundering Cryptocurrency North Korea

The cryptocurrency mixer service, dubbed Tornado Cash, faces reissued sanctions from the US Treasury Department after allegedly aiding the North Korean-backed threat group launder nearly $500 million last March.

According to the State Department, the cryptocurrency mixer had given material support to the Lazarus Group to launder the stolen money. This malicious threat group is notorious for being a cybercriminal entity that works for the North Korean government.

The spokesperson also claimed that the group’s profit for each of their hacks is given to North Korea’s weapon of mass destruction development program.

Based on reports, using the Tornado Cash mixer to launder stolen funds represents a massive trend by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) regime to use malicious activities such as cybersecurity attacks that result in money heists.

The North Korean hackers target virtual currency exchanges and financial institutions to generate revenue. Unfortunately, all previous successful attacks from these actors have funded the ballistic missile programs of North Korea.

 

The US government is committed to stopping entities like Tornado Cash that aid hackers in cybercrimes.

 

The US Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence disclosed that the sanctions against Tornado Cash target two essential DPRK activities. First, it will lessen the number of entities that assist hackers, resulting in lesser cybercrime and lesser revenue.

The other effect of the sanction will be its hindrance to the weapons production of North Korea, which will delay the manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction programs.

Furthermore, the US sanctioned two men for their participation in violating the sanction rules, which facilitated the dissemination of missile parts to the DPRK.

As of now, there is no statement released from any Tornado Cash representatives. The US government has also previously claimed that the North Korean threat groups are the culprits of the headline-grabbing attack on Ronin Network, resulting in the disappearance of approximately $600 million in cryptocurrency funds.

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