OFAC announces first-ever sanctions against virtual currency mixer

Financial Crimes OFAC Department of Treasury North Korea SDN List Virtual Currency Digital Assets OFAC Sanctions OFAC Designations Of Interest to Non-US Persons

On May 6, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13722 against a virtual currency mixer used by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to support its cyber activities and money-laundering. According to OFAC, in March, a DPRK state-sponsored cyber-hacking group carried out the largest virtual currency heist to date, worth almost $620 million, from a blockchain project linked to an online game. The virtual currency mixer was used to process over $20.5 million of the illicit proceeds. OFAC noted that the sanctions are the first-ever sanctions on a virtual currency mixer. As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property belonging to the sanctioned entities subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Additionally, “any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.” U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any dealings involving the property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.