North Korea’s Crypto’s Money Laundering Plan: The US wants to seize a $ 7.7 million asset

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that North Korean IT employees have launched a civilian seizure case to seize the $ 7.74 million digital assets obtained by working with false identities in the crypto industry.

These crypto assets; Bitcoin covers Stablecoins (USDC, USDT), NFTs and Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain names and are kept in multiple wallets and binance accounts.

They went to work with fake identities and received payments with Stablecoin

According to the US authorities, IT employees with North Korea;

He used false identity documents,

Freelance jobs in the USA and European -based Blokzincir company

He made his payments mostly with USDC and USDT.

Then, to launder these funds, they hid their traces with “Chain-Hopping”, converting it into NFT, and various token swap methods.

Funds were about to be transferred to Pyongyang

Sim Hyon Sop, one of the names at the center of the investigation, is a bank vehicle that has been living in China and previously directed to accusations. Sim, these laundered funds to return to the North Korean government is said to be in charge of transferring.

In addition, it is emphasized that Kim Sang Man, another North Korean name with Ofac sanctions, is also in this transfer chain.

USA: “We will use all legal tools”

Matthew Galeotti, President of the Criminal Chamber of Doj, expressed the importance of the incident with the following words:

“We will use all our legal tools against the efforts of North Korea to exploit the crypto ecosystem to finance illegal priorities.”

The Ministry of Justice has committed to tighten sanctions and increase the capacity to monitor digital assets in order to prevent criminal activities in the field of crypto.

North Korean deepens in the crypto industry

According to Google’s threat Intelligence Group 2024, North Korean developers are now targeting companies outside the United States.

Blockchain researcher Zachxbt revealed last year that a North Korean developer group won up to half a month a month.

In 2022, the US Secondary Affairs, Treasury and Justice Ministries issued a joint warning and pointed out that the North Korean labor force increased in Freelance crypto projects.

This case reveals once again how dangerous the invisible labor force can be in the crypto. North Korea is trying to drill economic sanctions through not only hacking, but also through legal -looking business relations. Such cases remind you of the critical of authentication and labor transparency in the Web3 ecosystem.