Elliptic Suspects Crypto Mixer Blender Relaunching as Sinbad

Lazarus, a hacker from North Korea is most likely behind the emergence of crypto mixers. (photo: twitter @elliptic)

JAKARTA - Blender, a crypto mixer or cryptocurrency mixer approved by the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control in May 2022, is "very likely" to be relaunched under the new name Sinbad. This was disclosed by risk management company, Elliptic.

Crypto mixer is a service that allows users to mix their cryptocurrency transactions with other transactions, thereby making their cash flow more difficult to track. It does this by randomizing the origin of money and mixing transactions with other transactions, so that no single entity can trace the path of money.

🌪️ Blender is back! Elliptic research found that a coin mixer sanctioned for helping Lazarus Group launder tens of millions of dollars is likely to have re-launched as Sinbad and has laundered close to $100m in Bitcoin from hacks attributed to Lazarushttps://t.co/qSUPwIgPpq

— elliptic (@elliptic) February 13, 2023

Crypto mixers are often used to protect user privacy, but they can also be used for illegitimate activities such as money laundering or tax evasion. Therefore, some countries limit or prohibit the use of crypto mixers.

In a report on February 13, Elliptic said its analysis of Sinbad indicated that this crypto mixer was likely a rebrand of Blender as well as having "the same individual or group responsible for it." According to the company, Sinbad was behind laundering around $100 million worth of Bitcoin for North Korean hacking group Lazarus.

Elliptic said after US authorities cracked down on crypto mixers, as OFAC did with Tornado Cash in August 2022 and Blender in May 2022, hacker Lazarus used Sinbad to launder some of the funds from the $100 million attack on Horizon Bridge in January.

Blockchain analysis of wallets linked to the suspected Blender operator also shows 22 million US dollars (Rp 335 billion)  in crypto goes to Sinbad and other funds are sent to individuals promoting the mixer.

“The on-chain behavior patterns are very similar for the two mixers, including the special characteristics of transactions, and the use of other services to obfuscate their transactions,” said Elliptic, quoted by Cointelegraph.

“The way the Sinbad mixer operates is identical to Blender in a number of ways, including the ten-digit mixer code, a letter of guarantee signed by the service address, and a maximum seven-day transaction delay,” says Elliptic.

Elliptic speculates that the people behind Sinbad may have changed the name to "earn the trust of users" after Blender was shut down. Elliptic added that OFAC may consider sanctioning crypto mixers. The US Department of the Treasury is already facing lawsuits over the Tornado Cash sanctions.

Lazarus is allegedly responsible for several major attacks in the crypto space, including the $620 million Ronin Axie Infinity Bridge hack in March 2022. The South Korean government has also imposed its own sanctions against North Korean entities linked to currency theft crypto money