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Lazarus Group, linked to North Korea, has resumed laundering stolen funds using Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer sanctioned by the U.S.

The Tornado Cash mixer’s co-founders have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with money laundering and sanctions violations.

A U.S. district court has concluded that the Treasury Department’s sanctions on cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash are valid.

Alexey Pertsev, a developer of the now-sanctioned crypto mixer Tornado Cash, has been ordered to stay in jail until Feb. 20 at least.

Coin Center, a non-profit think tank on cryptocurrencies and public policy, announced Wednesday it was filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), alleging the agency overreached its authority when it sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash in August. See related article: What is the future for cryptocurrency mixers after […]

Tornado Cash, the Ethereum coin mixer slapped with sanctions by the U.S. Treasury back in August, has returned to the software hosting website GitHub amid a flurry of lawsuits against the Treasury for its action.

Forkast Editor in Chief Angie Law spoke with some of the industry experts to talk about the implications of the Tornado Cash sanctions.

Panelists at Forkast’s live-streamed event ‘Crypto Rising: The Role of Law: An International Debate post Tornado Cash’ co-hosted by Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) said the significance of the sanctions could not be understated.

Over a month after placing the Ethereum coin-mixing tool Tornado Cash under sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department announced a way for Tornado Cash users to recover their funds on Tuesday.  See related article: Tether says didn’t freeze sanctioned Tornado Cash addresses so as to not interfere in investigations Fast facts The new guidance provides a […]

Alleged Tornado Cash developer, Alexey Pertsev, was accused of facilitating money laundering through the now-sanctioned crypto mixer. Pertsev will stay in jail for at least another 90 days, a judge in the Netherlands ruled on Wednesday. The developer has not been officially charged with any crime. See related article: Tornado Cash arrest heralds storm season […]

Tether Holdings Ltd.,the issuer of USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalisation, Wednesday said freezing the sanctioned addresses might interfere with ongoing investigations despite no clear instruction to do so by law enforcement. See related article: Bad actors in North Korea, Russia send record-high funds to crypto mixers Fast facts The U.S. Treasury Department’s […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Tornado Cash, mixer crash. Cardano’s Vasil vulnerabilities. Canaan earnings buoy expansion plans.

The Tornado Cash bans have stirred the pot in the crypto markets. Meanwhile, Australia looks for new ways to regulate crypto.

The largest Ethereum mining pool, Ethermine, stopped processing transactions from crypto mixer Tornado Cash-related addresses around Aug. 11, according to crypto analyst @takenstheorem. See related article:  U.S. Treasury overstepping authority in Tornado Cash sanction, says advocacy group Coin Center Fast facts See related article: Ronin hack proceeds seen headed to Tornado Cash

The U.S. Treasury may have overstepped its legal authority by sanctioning cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, said crypto advocacy group Coin Center. See related article: Circle freezes smart contract addresses linked to blacklisted Tornado Cash Fast facts See related article: Ronin hack proceeds seen headed to Tornado Cash

Amid debate over the U.S. Treasury Department’s banning of the crypto mixer, the Ethereum cofounder said he used the service to protect recipients.

Welcome to The Daily Forkast – August 9, 2022 – presented by Angie Lau. Coming up on today’s show: US lawmakers aim to push Fed on digital dollar. Circle freezes smart contract addresses linked to blacklisted Tornado Cash. Also, Hodlnaut freezes withdrawals, swaps and deposits. Zipmex to release specific amounts of Bitcoin and Ether. And […]

Circle Internet Financial Ltd., the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, froze over 75,000 USDC in funds linked to 81 sanctioned addresses at the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash on Monday, according to data from crypto aggregator Dune Analytics. See related article: Bad actors in North Korea, Russia send record-high funds to crypto mixers Fast facts The […]

At least 500 Ether looted from the US$600 million Ronin hack has been transferred to Tornado Cash. See related article: Axie Infinity blockchain Ronin hacked for over $600M Fast facts An Ethereum address associated with the hack made two 100 ETH deposits to Tornado Cash on Monday morning Asia time. Over an hour later, the […]

European lawmakers have adopted legislation imposing a €1,000 (US$1,084) cap on anonymous cryptocurrency transactions, as part of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) package.

Trading volumes on non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace LooksRare dropped by more than half its daily volume since developers withdrew roughly US$30 million of its native LOOKS token and cashed out in wrapped Ether (wETH) Fast facts LooksRare was averaging daily sales volumes of around US$550 million but fell more than 50% overnight in early February […]

Panelists at Forkast’s live-streamed event ‘Crypto Rising: The Role of Law: An International Debate post Tornado Cash’ co-hosted by the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) said attempting to regulate DAOs highlights the shortcomings of international enforcement.

Blockchain analytics are key to understanding the nascent crypto industry. But the analysis sector is far from immune from the pressures of the ongoing crypto bear market. In the first of a series of 1-on-1 interviews from the Token2049 conference held in Singapore Sept. 13-14, Alex Svanevik, CEO of blockchain analytics firm Nansen, sat down with Forkast to discuss current crypto challenges, the Asia growth market and the increasing use of artificial intelligence in the industry.

North Korea-backed Lazarus Group was behind the US$41 million hack of online crypto gambling platform Stake.com on Monday, FBI says.

Bitcoin fell below US$27,000 on Sunday, dipping further Monday morning in Asia as wider macro developments continue to weigh.

Crypto users need not fear the increasing KYC/AML requirements around the world and loss of privacy, writes Kurt Hemecker of the Mina Foundation. Here’s why.

A hacker took advantage of an old contract from Yearn Finance on Thursday to steal US$11.6 million in stablecoins.

US, and German shuttered ChipMixer, a cryptocurrency service that allegedly laundered more than US$3 billion in crypto since 2017.

Ponzi schemes, investment scams and rug pulls have drained billions from crypto users in recent years. What new kinds of crypto crimes are on the horizon?

ICBA vice-president Brian Laverdure believes that community banks are unfazed by FTX’s collapse, but remain split on cryptocurrencies.

This year’s cascade of crypto collapses should be a wake-up call to regulators, says the Independent Community Bankers of America’s Brian Laverdure.

Top blockchain and crypto news: US senators push for crypto KYC. SBF faces the music in US courts. Alibaba Cloud to launch blockchain node.

As U.S. prosecutors line up charges against Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Senator Elizabeth Warren is seeking to pass bipartisan regulation to rein in the “dark underbelly” of the crypto industry.

Top blockchain and crypto news: SBF denied bail, US extradition likely next. The Block chief quits over secret FTX loans. Hong Kong readies digital asset rules.

The push to regulate DeFi is stronger than ever, and the sector would be wise not to fight but participate in that inevitability, writes Michael Shing of XREX.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Ankr will buy US$5 million worth of BNB – the token of cryptocurrency exchange Binance – to compensate liquidity providers affected by Friday’s exploit

U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has agreed to pay over US$362,000 to settle claims that it violated sanctions against Iran, the Treasury said Monday.

NFT platform laCollection has launched a series of collaborations with international artists to raise funds for Ukrainian cultural institutions.

The market may be in the doldrums, but there’s no better time to clean house and build for the future, writes Clayton Roche of UMA. Here are 5 areas of opportunity.

Bitcoin gained in Thursday morning trading in Asia, with the world’s largest cryptocurrency holding above support at US$19,000. Ether, second on the list of top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, also gained. Other coins on the top 10 moving higher included Solana, XRP and Tron. Cardano fell. See related article: Binance to hard […]

When times are tough, a DAO must trim fat and focus on providing a better product or service to its community, writes Redmption of Harvest Finance.

Web3 communities need to join forces with policymakers to draft rules for the next iteration of the online world, says Haun Ventures’ Tomicah Tillemann

Top blockchain and crypto news: Digital dollar didgeridoos. Bitcoin softens as sterling sinks. ‘World’s dumbest’ crypto criminals nabbed in China.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission faces criticism from cryptocurrency industry as opposition grows over “unprecedented” charges against the Ooki DAO.

Crypto exchange Huobi has ceased topping-up service for seven kinds of privacy-focused tokens on its exchange as it prepares to delist the tokens on Sept. 19, citing regulatory concerns. See related article: Privacy protocol Monero completes upgrade to make transactions more private Fast facts See related article: Huobi-incubated Chinese NFT platform iBox ends international operations

Over US$30 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen by North Korea-linked hackers has been seized by law enforcement, with the help of crypto organizations like the Chainalysis Crypto Incident Response Team. See related article: North Korea behind Ronin hack: US Fast facts This marks the first time that digital assets stolen from North Korean hacking groups […]

Crypto entrepreneur Mark Hopkins, also known as Doctor Bitcoin” or “Rizzn”, claimed on Twitter that he has been sentenced to six to 15 months in federal prison for allegedly participating in peer-to-peer Bitcoin sales without a federal license. See related article: Tornado Cash arrest heralds storm season for crypto mixers Fast facts P2P sale of […]

Singapore-headquartered crypto derivatives exchange Bybit is partnering with Circle, the issuer of stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), to offer USDC spot pairs. See related article: Bybit to cut up to 30% of its workforce Fast facts Bybit said on Thursday it will offer Circle’s services to its users by expanding its USDC spot pair listings to […]

Vitalik Buterin will release a book on proof-of-stake consensus on Sept. 27, compiling various writings by the Ethereum founder over the last 10 years, according to his recent Twitter post. See related article: Vitalik Buterin says he used Tornado Cash to donate to Ukraine Fast facts The book, titled “Proof of Stake, The Making of […]

More than US$100 million worth of NFTs were scammed between July 2021 and July 2022, with each scam perpetrator making an average of US$300,000, according to a report released on Wednesday by crypto analysis firm Elliptic. See related article: Who fared worse in cryptocurrency slump: criminals or legitimate users? Fast facts See related article: Ronin […]

Bitcoin and Ether were little changed in Asia on Thursday morning, though Ether Classic rose. Solana and Cardano lost ground along with most other top 10 tokens by capitalization, though the global cryptocurrency market cap edged up 0.23% to US$1.03 trillion. Investors across all financial markets remain on edge about the direction of interest rates […]

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) seized and blocked a cryptocurrency wallet used to fund the Russian military campaign in the country. The agency is working on tracking the funds and transferring them under Ukrainian jurisdiction, according to the SSU. See related article: Vitalik Buterin says he used Tornado Cash to donate to Ukraine Fast […]

Decentralized exchange Uniswap has appeared to block 253 wallet addresses linked to illicit financial activities on its front end after the U.S. government imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash earlier this month. See related article: Largest Ether mining pool Ethermine stops processing Tornado Cash transactions Fast facts DeFi platform Yearn developer Banteg tweeted on Saturday that […]

The hackers responsible for stealing US$610 million worth of crypto from Axie Infinity’s Ronin bridge back in March have since transferred most funds from ETH into BTC using renBTC and privacy tools like Blender, ChipMixer, and TornadoCash, according to a report. See related article: Axie Infinity blockchain Ronin hacked for over $600M Fast facts The […]

Bitcoin and Ethereum edged down again in Monday afternoon trading in Asia, after both posted sharp declines on Friday and had a bit of a rollercoaster over the weekend that drove most other tokens lower. Dogecoin was the biggest mover today among the top 10 coins by market capitalization and logged a 3.09% fall in […]

The percentage of stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) supply held by the top 1% addresses dropped to a 22-month low on Monday, while USDC average trading volume in seven days surged to an all-time high on the same day, according to crypto data dashboard Glassnode. See related article: Vitalik Buterin says he used Tornado Cash to […]

Report by Chainalysis says both use cases fell in dollar terms in first half of year and while legitimate usage by value far exceeds criminal, illicit activities fell by a much narrower margin.The report attempts to explain why.

The embattled Ukrainian government has spent US$54 million, raised through donations in cryptocurrencies, to supply defenders with military equipment, armor, clothing, medicines and vehicles, a senior minister said.  See related article: Vitalik Buterin says he used Tornado Cash to donate to Ukraine Fast facts See related article: Ukraine’s NFT museum of Russian conflict goes live

Criminal activity in cryptocurrency was more resilient than legitimate uses despite the downturn in the crypto market in 2022, according to a new report by blockchain data aggregation firm Chainalysis. See related article: Chainalysis says $2 bln stolen in cross-chain bridge hacks this year, more expected Fast facts Illicit transaction volumes are down just 15% […]

A new report by Chainalysis shows that sanctioned actors, especially in North Korea and Russia, are sending record sums to crypto mixers.

State-affiliated hacker group Lazarus is allegedly connected to the US$100 million hack on Harmony Protocol’s Horizon cross-chain bridge, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said. See related article: Horizon’s US$100 mln crypto hack prompts FBI investigation Fast facts The attack on Harmony resembled previous hacks attributed to the Lazarus Group, such as exploiting multi-signature wallet keys, extensive […]

The Lazarus Group, the North Korean hacking group linked to the US$600 million Axie Infinity hack in March, is still laundering funds stolen from the hack despite sanctions imposed by the U.S.  See related article: Axie Infinity blockchain Ronin hacked for over $600M Fast facts Despite U.S. sanctions, North Korean hackers have been freely laundering […]

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of the Treasury allege North Korea’s Lazarus Group and APT38 were responsible for stealing cryptocurrencies worth about US$620 million off the Ethereum sidechain Ronin. See related article: Axie Infinity blockchain Ronin hacked for over $600M Fast facts The hack was perpetrated by the Democratic People’s […]

News of Sky Mavis raising US$150 million to compensate users following the around US$600 million hack on its Ronin Bridge led to a surge in Axie non-fungible tokens (NFT) sales. See related article: Axie Infinity blockchain Ronin hacked for over $600M Fast facts Binance leads the round along with Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands, a16z, Dialectic, […]

Top blockchain and crypto news: Stablecoins at regulatory crossroads. Squid Game crypto players suffer shocking fate. Are metaverses China’s new national insecurity?

In a 2019 speech, the visionary creator and co-founder of Ethereum describes Eth2’s launch in phases, including proof of stake, data sharding and scaling.

Mixin Network announced Monday that the database of its cloud service provider was hacked, resulting in the loss of approximately US$200 million.

Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx Global suffered a security breach on Tuesday, resulting in an estimated loss of US$43 million in cryptocurrencies.

PayPal launches stablecoin. Traditional gamers take on NFTs. Tough times ahead for Huobi.

A South Korean academic tracking on-chain data says Do Kwon, the imprisoned founder of the now collapsed Terra-Luna crypto project, seems to have outside help in moving stablecoins from his digital wallets into other cryptocurrencies.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Where is Alameda Research’s money going? US tax loophole may give crypto investors a break. China’s blockchain momentum builds.

FTX liquidators may be behind the latest transactions from Alameda Research wallets, but someone else may have sent the first set of cryptocurrencies to decentralized exchanges.