Blender.io, a platform focused on providing mixing services in the crypto market, has been sanctioned by the US Treasury. According to the regulatory body, the Blender platform played a vital role in the successful hack of Ronin bridge and Axie Infinity some weeks ago. The hack, credited to be the handiwork of the famous group, Lazarus, saw the network lose about $600 million. The body mentioned that Blender provided an easy way for the criminals to launder the funds gotten from the platform.
Blender helped the group launder over $20 million
In a statement by the Secretary of the Terrorism unit at the agency, he noted that this is the first time in the agency’s history that it would go after a crypto mixing platform. He said that the country is still actively looking for ways to arrest the criminals. He also said the agency would not allow them and the platforms that helped them go without answering to the law.
With the sanctions in place, the Treasury has confiscated all assets and properties in the name of Blender. In this effect, any person holding on to the property or asset of the firm must report and submit them to the agency. In its report, the agency mentioned that the mixing platform aided the criminals in laundering about $20 million from the entire funds.
Treasury adds hacker’s wallet addresses to its SDN list
The hack saw the criminals steal more than $600 million in diverse digital assets from the network. The Treasury also mentioned that its investigations revealed that this is not the first time Blender would help facilitate stolen cash. It noted that it had helped several malicious groups such as Ryuk to launder funds stolen from unsuspecting users and firms. Currently, the website is now offline, an activity linked to a shutdown by the agency.
The agency has also made the wallets used in carrying out these activities available on its SDN list. The Ronin hack has become one of the most talked-about in the crypto market history. Although the hackers had already hit the network and made away with the funds, the network developers only found out the following week. Sky Mavis, the parent company of the blockchain game, has continued to reimburse users after raising more than $150 million days after the hack. Binance also lent a helping hand by helping the network track and recover some parts of the funds.
