On Monday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a watchdog agency of the US Treasury Department, banned Tornado Cash, an Ethereum mixing application OFAC cited the mixer for helping North Korean hackers, including a hacking syndicate known as the Lazarus Group.
OFAC sanctions Tornado Cash mixing app
- OFAC officially banned the Tornado Cash and Tornado Cash Classic websites, along with all digital currency addresses allegedly associated with the sites.
- “The following entities have been added to OFAC’s SDN list: Tornado Cash,” OFAC’s cyber-related designationstates in the report
- The U.S. Treasury watchdog mentioned dozens of addresses holding usd coin (USDC) or ethereum (ETH
- OFAC’s addition of Tornado Cash andETHaddresses allegedly tied to the platform means that all US persons and business entities are strictly prohibited from using the mixer.
- After 2020, the U.S. enacted legislation that could punishany U.S. person or entity that violates the Specially Designated Nationals list. Those who break the rules could face jail time and either between $90,000 and $308,000 per violation.
- The news follows a recent Debridge Finance announcement when project co-founder Alex Smirnov said that the Debridge team was attacked by the notorious North Korean hacking syndicate Lazarus Group Is.
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