Brother
Professional
- Messages
- 2,590
- Reaction score
- 480
- Points
- 83
This bitcoin mixer handled millions of dollars worth of illegal transactions.
As part of an international operation, the FBI and the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service have seized the websites of cryptocurrency mixer Sinbad. Cybercriminals use this service to launder stolen funds and hide financial transactions.
The US Treasury Department, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), announced that it is imposing sanctions on Sinbad. According to OFAC, this mixer is a key tool of the Lazarus hacker group, allegedly working for the North Korean government.
Authorities allege that millions of dollars worth of Lazarus transactions passed through Sinbad. This includes funds from major cyber attacks in 2022 on Horizon Bridge and Axie Infinity, which resulted in the theft of $ 100 million and $ 625 million, respectively.
"Owners of services that help criminals like Lazarus pull off financial fraud will face serious consequences," said Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. The Ministry of Finance and its partners are ready to use all available tools to counter such systems.
According to Elliptic, a cryptanalytic company, the Sinbad mixer also helped Lazarus hackers launder money withdrawn from the Atomic Wallet. The owners of this decentralized wallet in June reported the loss of assets of approximately 50,000 of their customers. The total amount of damage was $ 35 million.
Tom Robinson, chief researcher and co-founder of Elliptic, said that funds stolen as a result of attacks on the Internet passed through Sinbad. Stake.com ($41 million), CoinEx ($70 million), FTX ($477 million), BadgerDAO ($120 million) and other platforms.
In addition to the main site, there was also a separate version on the darknet. In February 2023, one of the creators of the platform, who asked to be called Mehdi, told reporters that "Sinbad is publicly available because it does nothing wrong."
According to the researchers, now both versions have ceased to function. The sites contain an official notification to the FBI about their confiscation.
Sinbad is far from the first in the list of cryptocurrency mixers that the US authorities have imposed sanctions on. Among them were also Tornado Cash and Blender.io. In its press release, OFAC claims that Sinbad "handles illegal transactions indiscriminately", that is, accepting any of them for processing, regardless of legitimacy.
As part of an international operation, the FBI and the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service have seized the websites of cryptocurrency mixer Sinbad. Cybercriminals use this service to launder stolen funds and hide financial transactions.
The US Treasury Department, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), announced that it is imposing sanctions on Sinbad. According to OFAC, this mixer is a key tool of the Lazarus hacker group, allegedly working for the North Korean government.
Authorities allege that millions of dollars worth of Lazarus transactions passed through Sinbad. This includes funds from major cyber attacks in 2022 on Horizon Bridge and Axie Infinity, which resulted in the theft of $ 100 million and $ 625 million, respectively.
"Owners of services that help criminals like Lazarus pull off financial fraud will face serious consequences," said Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. The Ministry of Finance and its partners are ready to use all available tools to counter such systems.
According to Elliptic, a cryptanalytic company, the Sinbad mixer also helped Lazarus hackers launder money withdrawn from the Atomic Wallet. The owners of this decentralized wallet in June reported the loss of assets of approximately 50,000 of their customers. The total amount of damage was $ 35 million.
Tom Robinson, chief researcher and co-founder of Elliptic, said that funds stolen as a result of attacks on the Internet passed through Sinbad. Stake.com ($41 million), CoinEx ($70 million), FTX ($477 million), BadgerDAO ($120 million) and other platforms.
In addition to the main site, there was also a separate version on the darknet. In February 2023, one of the creators of the platform, who asked to be called Mehdi, told reporters that "Sinbad is publicly available because it does nothing wrong."
According to the researchers, now both versions have ceased to function. The sites contain an official notification to the FBI about their confiscation.
Sinbad is far from the first in the list of cryptocurrency mixers that the US authorities have imposed sanctions on. Among them were also Tornado Cash and Blender.io. In its press release, OFAC claims that Sinbad "handles illegal transactions indiscriminately", that is, accepting any of them for processing, regardless of legitimacy.
