Binance Helps US Treasury Department Confiscate Illegal Funds Entering Crypto

JAKARTA - The United States (US) Department of Finance through the Office of Foreign Assets Supervision (OFAC) announced the application of sanctions against several crypto addresses related to cyber crimes committed by North Korea.

This announcement is part of US efforts to combat illegal activities carried out by North Korea. OFAC imposed sanctions on six crypto addresses owned by Kim Sang Man. He is a North Korean citizen involved in cybercrime activities.

This sanction was imposed on Kim Sang Man because his illegal activities contributed to North Korean government's opinion. Especially for North Korean weapons programs. His sanctioned addresses include two Bitcoin (BTC) addresses, two Ethereum (ETH) addresses, one Tether (USDT) address, and one USDC stablecoin address.

In addition, OFAC also imposed sanctions on four organizations linked to Kim and the scheme, including the Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company. The move is expected to stop illegal activities and limit North Korea's access to the resources they use to launch cyber attacks.

OFAC is not alone in tackling this problem. The success of OFAC in fighting North Korea's illegal activities cannot be separated from the Binance crypto exchange. Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world based on its daily trading volume.

Binance itself has confirmed that it has taken action as requested. Even so, OFAC did not mention what kind of assistance Binance did in detail to hunt down illegal funds in cryptocurrencies resulting from cybercriminals.