Syed Rahman, of financial crime specialists Rahman Ravelli,
outlines the issues in the first case of the US Treasury imposing
sanctions on a virtual currency mixer.
The United States Treasury has sanctioned a virtual currency
mixer for the first time.
It has imposed sanctions on the cryptocurrency mixing service
Blender.io. The sanctions have been placed on Blender because it
provided services for the individuals who obtained $600 million by
attacking the Ronin sidechain in March.
According to the Treasury, the theft was carried out by the
North Korean Lazarus group, which was first sanctioned in 2019.
Blender was used by the attackers to process $20.5 million.
Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial
Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said:
