"US Sanctions Cryptocurrency Mixer Sinbad for Aiding North Korean Hackers"

The US Department of the Treasury recently announced sanctions against cryptocurrency mixer Sinbad for laundering stolen cryptocurrency for the North Korean state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus.  Sinbad, the Treasury says, is the preferred mixing service for Lazarus and is responsible for laundering millions of dollars in stolen cryptocurrency for the nation state threat actor.  Sinbad operates on the Bitcoin blockchain, and the mixer obfuscates illicit transactions' origin, destination, and counterparties.  It is believed to be a successor to the Blender.io mixer, which was previously sanctioned for aiding Lazarus.  The Treasury says Sinbad also obfuscates transactions linked to other malicious activities, including sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, and illicit sales on dark web marketplaces.  According to US authorities, Sinbad was involved in laundering a "significant portion" of the $100 million in cryptocurrency stolen from Atomic Wallet in June 2023, of the $620 million stolen from Axie Infinity in March 2022, and of the $100 million stolen in June 2022 from Horizon Bridge.

 

SecurityWeek reports: "US Sanctions Cryptocurrency Mixer Sinbad for Aiding North Korean Hackers"

Submitted by Adam Ekwall on