On May 4, 2020, the blockchain surveillance firm Chainalysis published a three-part series covering a crypto Ponzi scheme, North Korea, and Iran’s use of digital currencies like bitcoin. The company’s research papers discuss the Poland-based crypto Ponzi called Futurenet, a hosting service allegedly tied to North Korea, and how Iran-based exchanges are bypassing OFAC sanctions...Read More
On May 4, 2020, the blockchain surveillance firm Chainalysis published a three-part series covering a crypto Ponzi scheme, North Korea, and Iran’s use of digital currencies like bitcoin. The company’s research papers discuss the Poland-based crypto Ponzi called Futurenet, a hosting service allegedly tied to North Korea, and how Iran-based exchanges are bypassing OFAC sanctions...Read More
The U.S. Treasury Department is stepping up its focus on illegal cryptocurrency-related activities. Recently, Treasury announced that its financial intelligence and enforcement agencies are collecting and analyzing Bitcoin addresses. These addresses are associated with several “Chinese kingpins” allegedly involved in “fueling America’s deadly opioid crisis.” OFAC Adds BTC Addresses to the Specially Designated Nationals list...Read More
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned three Chinese nationals and their cryptocurrency addresses, alleging they violated money laundering and drug smuggling laws. OFAC named Xiaobing Yan, Fujing Zheng and Guanghua Zheng as narcotics traffickers under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, freezing any property they own within the U.S. and listing...Read More