U.S. Sanctions Crypto Mixer Sinbad.io for Role in North Korean Laundering Activities
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The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced today that it has imposed sanctions on cryptocurrency mixer Sinbad.io (Sinbad). The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), together with the Netherlands’ Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) and other multilateral agencies, also seized Sinbad.io, effectively taking it offline. Sinbad was a key money laundering tool used by Lazarus Group — a sanctioned, state-sponsored group of cyber hackers of the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK).
Today’s OFAC action is a direct response to Sinbad’s role in laundering millions of dollars in stolen cryptocurrency, including funds stolen in the Harmony Horizon Bridge and Axie Infinity hacks.
What is Sinbad.io?
Operating on the Bitcoin blockchain, Sinbad is a mixing service that obscures transaction details in order to hide the flow of funds on-chain. Cryptocurrency mixing services, while potentially useful for legitimate privacy purposes, have become a prime instrument in the toolkit of …
Today’s OFAC action is a direct response to Sinbad’s role in laundering millions of dollars in stolen cryptocurrency, including funds stolen in the Harmony Horizon Bridge and Axie Infinity hacks.
What is Sinbad.io?
Operating on the Bitcoin blockchain, Sinbad is a mixing service that obscures transaction details in order to hide the flow of funds on-chain. Cryptocurrency mixing services, while potentially useful for legitimate privacy purposes, have become a prime instrument in the toolkit of …