OFAC Sanctions Tracker: How Sanctions Impact Crypto Crime
Contents
As far back as the early 1800s, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued economic sanctions to achieve foreign policy and national security objectives. Today, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions countries, individuals, companies, and groups — like international drug traffickers or terrorists — that pose specific threats to U.S. interests.
Over the years, bad actors have tried a variety of tactics to evade OFAC’s sanctions. More recently, some have pivoted towards crypto, presuming that crypto transactions are anonymous or untraceable. Adapting to this tactic, OFAC began including cryptocurrency addresses as identifiers in sanctions designations. The first such instance occurred on November 28, 2018 when OFAC designated two Iran-based individuals tied to the SamSam ransomware scheme, which demanded ransom payments in Bitcoin. Since that first designation, OFAC has included many wallet addresses and even entire crypto services in its designations. In this article, we’ll discuss:
OFAC’s guidance on …
Over the years, bad actors have tried a variety of tactics to evade OFAC’s sanctions. More recently, some have pivoted towards crypto, presuming that crypto transactions are anonymous or untraceable. Adapting to this tactic, OFAC began including cryptocurrency addresses as identifiers in sanctions designations. The first such instance occurred on November 28, 2018 when OFAC designated two Iran-based individuals tied to the SamSam ransomware scheme, which demanded ransom payments in Bitcoin. Since that first designation, OFAC has included many wallet addresses and even entire crypto services in its designations. In this article, we’ll discuss:
OFAC’s guidance on …