US Financial Watchdog Fines Bitcoin Mixer Service for $60 Million
Larry Dean Harmon, founder and operator of early bitcoin mixing services Helix and Coin Ninja, is being fined $60 million by the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) for allegedly violating anti-money laundering rules. According to documents published Oct. 19 by Fincen, the fine surrounds the transmission of “at least 356,000 bitcoin transactions through Helix between June 2014 and December 2017” on behalf of criminals using the dark web. Prosecutors allege Harmon was running an unregistered money services business (MSB) in violation of the Bank....
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The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued its first-ever sanctions on a crypto mixer. The mixing service was used by Lazarus Group to process illicit proceeds from the $620 million crypto heist of the online game Axie Infinity, said the Treasury Department. Treasury Department Sanctions Crypto Mixer The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced Friday that it has sanctioned crypto mixer Blender.io (Blender). According to the OFAC, this mixing service is used by the Democratic....
Authorities in Belgium have obliged providers of some crypto exchange and wallet services to register with the country’s financial watchdog. Targeted platforms that fail to comply with the new regulations will face fines, among other penalties, including prohibition to carry out their respective activities.
Financial Regulator Imposes Mandatory Registration for Crypto Exchange Service Providers in Belgium
Starting from May 1, 2022, any legal entities established and operating in Belgium that want to provide exchange services between “virtual currencies and legal....
On Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department’s watchdog the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) banned the ethereum mixing application Tornado Cash. OFAC has cited that the mixer has helped North Korean hackers such as the hacking syndicate known as Lazarus Group.
OFAC Sanctions Tornado Cash Mixing App
OFAC has officially banned the Tornado Cash and Tornado Cash Classic websites alongside all of the digital currency addresses allegedly associated with the site.
“The following entity has been added to OFAC’s SDN list: Tornado Cash,”....
A South Korean province has seized cryptocurrencies worth over $5 million from 1,661 investors who were more than $12 million in arrears on their fines in total. The seizure followed an investigation of nearly 30,000 companies and individuals as well as their cryptocurrency holdings at four exchanges.
Korean Province Confiscates Cryptocurrencies for Unpaid Fines
The South Korean province of Gyeonggi, the most populous province in the country, announced last week that it had seized 6.1 billion won ($5.14 million) in cryptocurrencies from 1,661 people who were 14.4 billion won in....
FinCEN has fined the operator of early crypto mixers Helix and Coin Ninja for Bank Secrecy Act violations. The founder and operator of some of the first "mixing" services in crypto will have to cough up $60 million to United States regulators, even as he faces continued criminal charges. The U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, announced on Monday a $60 million fine against Larry Dean Harmon, the man behind Helix and Coin Ninja.Harmon was arrested in February for operating a stable of tumblers, or mixers, that Washington, D.C. prosecutors allege constitute....