At a time when regulations for crypto assets are being discussed, a remarkable move came from the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance. Binance, which is involved in an investigation by the US Treasury Department, has frozen $ 4.4 million worth of crypto assets found to belong to North Korea-based hackers.
In the statements made by the US Treasury Department; It was stated that a unit called the “Technical Reconnaissance Bureau” was opened within the Pyongyang Automation University, which is serving in North Korea, and that cyber attacks carried out to fill the safe of North Korea were controlled with this unit. According to the US claim, all hackers working for North Korea, especially the Lazarus Group, were getting the money they earned through attacks and espionage through accounts that Binance helped to freeze.
It’s been tracked for a year!
The statements made by Binance reveal that the cooperation with the US Treasury Department is not a momentary matter. So much so that Binance stated that they have been cooperating with the US authorities for a year and provided all the support requested from them. Binance also added that it is proud of its support.
What happened is not surprising for Binance!
About a month ago, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance CEO aka CZ. CZ, who made a statement on the subject, stated that Binance is always in cooperation with law enforcement, and that they have ensured the seizure of 125 million dollars of crypto assets until that day. In fact, Changpeng Zhao said that they helped operations related to Lazarus Group in the past, and crypto wallets worth $5.8 million were frozen. All of these can be interpreted as steps that will increase trust in both Binance and the cryptocurrency community.