US Secretary of State Antony Blinken deleted his tweet associating Tornado Cash with North Korea.
Blinken has claimed that the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash is a North Korean hacking group. Blinken said the US Treasury Department has sanctioned the North Korean-backed hacker group Tornado Cash. According to the Foreign Minister, North Korea is using Tornado Cash for money laundering purposes.
Blinken Deletes Tornado Cash Tweet
Blinken deleted the tweet one hour and three minutes after posting this tweet and made a statement in line with the Treasury Department’s statement. Blinken stated that Tornado Cash was used by a North Korean hacker group for money laundering purposes.
We’ll continue to aggressively pursue actions against currency mixers laundering virtual currency for criminals. Today, @USTreasury sanctioned virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash, which has been used to launder money for a U.S.-sanctioned DPRK state-sponsored cyber hacking group.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 8, 2022
Blinken did not mention his previous tweet in his new post.
Tornado Cash Sanction from the US Treasury Department
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has added more than forty Ethereum and USDC addresses associated with Tornado Cash to the Specially Designated Nationals list designated by the regulator. OFAC stated that the Tornado Cash service is used in illegal transactions such as money laundering.
A senior Treasury Department official said that Lazarus Group, a hacker group backed by the North Korean government, is moving hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto from hacking attacks through Tornado Cash.
Ari Redbord, head of law at analytics firm TRM Labs, said the Treasury Department’s move is the most effective action it has ever taken in the crypto space.
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