U.S. Treasury Sanctions North Korean-Owned Binance Wallets Over Alleged Support for WMD Programs
According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the wallets hosted by Binance received over $2 million worth of different cryptocurrencies, which were subsequently transferred to entities in North Korea.
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May 23, 2023
CoinDesk reported that according to a statement from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a number of cryptocurrency wallets suspected to be linked to the North Korean government were sanctioned by U.S. officials on Tuesday.
The wallets, which held BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC, were owned by an individual named Sang Man Kim, a 58-year-old citizen of North Korea, as alleged by OFAC. These wallets were hosted by the crypto exchange Binance.
It should be noted that Binance did not actively control these wallets. They appear to be automatically-generated wallet addresses provided by the exchange, accessible to any user who signs up. Blockchain data reveals no transactions to or from these addresses in the past year.
According to a press release from OFAC, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) engages in harmful cyber activities and employs IT workers who fraudulently seek employment to generate revenue, including through virtual currency. This revenue is used to support the Kim regime and its unlawful programs such as weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile development.
Binance faced criticism in the past for allegedly facilitating the efforts of malicious actors to bypass sanctions. However, Binance Financial Crime Compliance Head Tigran Gambaryan stated in an interview with CoinDesk in April that the exchange has implemented strict measures to remove North Korean actors from its platform.
Hackers affiliated with North Korea have been involved in significant attacks targeting the digital assets industry. In 2022, these hackers reportedly stole around $630 million worth of cryptocurrency, as reported by Reuters.
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