Treasury Department Disrupts North Korean Crypto Money Laundering Operation Using UAE-Based Shell Company

December 19, 2024 The Daily Hodl

Daily Hodl

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) says it is dismantling North Korea’s digital asset money laundering network by taking action against individuals and entities involved in the operation. In a statement, the OFAC says it is sanctioning Chinese nationals Lu Huaying and Zhang Jian who worked for the network that used […]

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US Treasury Takes Action Against Five Individuals Who Allegedly Used USDT To Evade Sanctions for Russian Elites

December 6, 2024 The Daily Hodl

Daily Hodl

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is holding accountable five individuals linked to a money laundering network that enabled Russian elites to circumvent international sanctions. In a statement, the Treasury Department says it is imposing sanctions on those associated with the TGR Group, which uses digital assets, including the US dollar-pegged […]

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3 Crypto Titans—Blackrock, Grayscale, and Fidelity—Dominate 85% of US Bitcoin ETF Reserves

‘Massive’ — BuilderNet aims to solve Ethereum’s centralized block problem

November 27, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Beaverbuild

Ethereum block builders Beaverbuild and Titan Builder have made around 88% of the blockchain’s blocks in recent weeks, and now BuilderNet aims to disrupt that.

Blockchain infrastructure firm Flashbots has launched BuilderNet, a decentralized block-building network on Ethereum to “kill censorship” and solve one of the network’s biggest “chokepoints.”

BuilderNet launched on Nov. 26, which it said aims to allow “many parties to collaborate in building blocks” comes at a crucial time as around 88% of all Ethereum blocks have been built by Beaverbuild and Titan Builder in recent weeks.

This is “absolutely massive” as it will “kill censorship” and exclusive order flow deals on Ethereum, Coinbase’s protocol specialist Viktor Bunin said on X.

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Big victory in Tornado Cash case as judge says OFAC exceeded authority

November 26, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

A US appeals court ruled the Treasury’s OFAC “overstepped” when it sanctioned crypto mixer Tornado Cash’s smart contracts.

A United States appeals court has reversed a lower court’s decision, finding the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) exceeded its authority in sanctioning Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts — a major win for the protocol and its users.

In a Nov. 26 opinion, a Fifth Circuit Appeals Court three-judge panel said that while Treasury has the power to take action against “property,” Tornado Cash’s smart contracts were not property under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as they are immutable, meaning they can not be controlled or owned.

“We hold that Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts (the lines of privacy-enabling software code) are not the “property” of a foreign national or entity, meaning (1) they cannot be blocked under IEEPA, and (2) OFAC overstepped its congressionally defined authority,” the trio of judges wrote.

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Coin Center lawyers argue Tornado Cash is not property

November 20, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Coin Center

The Coin Center lawsuit, first filed in 2022, noted that one plaintiff used Tornado Cash to protect his identity while donating money.

Coin Center is appealing an earlier ruling by the United States district court for Northern Florida, which held that Tornado Cash creates indirect benefits for foreign individuals and entities that can be defined as a financial interest subject to sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Legal counsel for Coin Center Jeffrey S. Hetzel told the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, “The easiest way to resolve this case is to hold that in our plaintiffs’ transactions, there is no foreign property. The district court had to erase the word property from the statute.” Hetzel continued the argument:

Attorneys for the United States government countered Hetzel by maintaining that price appreciation of the Tornado Cash token, TORN, directly benefitted TORN holders and asserted that withdrawal fees were a form of accrued benefits for the protocol’s founders.

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Vitalik Buterin Donates 100 Ethereum (ETH) to Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm’s Legal Defense Fund

October 7, 2024 The Daily Hodl

crypto

Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin is donating 100 ETH to bolster the legal defense fund of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm. In a new thread on the social media platform X, Storm – who helped launch the anonymous ETH-based crypto mixing protocol in 2019 – expresses his gratitude to Buterin for his continued support. “I can’t […]

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US sanctions Russian crypto platforms for money laundering ties

September 26, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Two crypto exchanges and two individuals have been sanctioned for ties to underground finance.

The United States government has taken action against two Russians and two cryptocurrency exchanges tied to alleged illicit Russian finance. The departments of the Treasury, Justice and State were involved, along with an assortment of overseas law enforcement agencies.

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) identified PM2BTC, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange, and Sergey Ivanov, who is associated with that exchange, as being of “primary money laundering concern.” At the same time, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Ivanov and another crypto exchange, Cryptex.

PM2BTC is alleged to process the proceeds of ransomware attacks and other illicit activities. Half of its activities are linked to illegal operations, according to FinCen. According to Chainalysis, PM2BTC shares wallet infrastructure with UAPS (Universal Anonymous Payment System), an underground payment processing system.

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US Treasury Sanctions Cambodian Tycoon Over Crypto Fraud and Trafficking Links

September 13, 2024 Bitcoin.com

bitcoin.com

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on Cambodian tycoon Ly Yong Phat and his businesses, linking them to human trafficking and forced labor scams involving cryptocurrency fraud. Victims were manipulated into online scam centers, and trafficked workers were forced into labor for these schemes. The sanctions freeze U.S.-based assets and prohibit transactions, […]

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Latam Insights Encore: The Venezuelan Perfect Storm Highlights Bitcoin’s Key Use Case

September 10, 2024 Bitcoin.com

Bitcoin

Welcome to Latam Insights Encore, a deep dive into Latin America’s most relevant economic and cryptocurrency-based news from last week. In this edition, we discuss how bitcoin is being leveraged by both the opposition and the government in Venezuela, highlighting one of its most significant traits: uncensorability. Latam Insights Encore: Venezuelan Situation Shows Bitcoin’s Utility […]

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Tornado Cash sanctions effective, reveal Ethereum weakness: NY Fed

August 7, 2024 Coin Telegraph

blockchain censorship

Cooperation with the US Treasury sanctions on Tornado Cash was strongest at the user level and weaker further along the settlement chain.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has released a report on the effect of sanctions on Tornado Cash, the crypto mixer that was blocklisted by the United States Treasury Department in 2022. Sanctions work, by and large, even in decentralized finance, the report concluded.

The report’s findings also apply to Ethereum. The Ethereum network’s resistance to censorship and cooperation shows “fragility,” the report says.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned addresses associated with the so-called crypto mixer Tornado Cash on Aug. 8, 2022. The move was a response to large-scale money laundering operations it had enabled by obscuring the movement of crypto funds onchain. It was the first time a computer protocol had been sanctioned.

OFAC

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