US Treasury Sanctions USDC and ETH Addresses Connected to Tornado Cash

The protocol has been at the center of some recent hacks and exploits in decentralized finance, including the alleged theft of $455 million by the North Korean affiliated company Groupe Lazare.

The United States Department of Treasury has added more than 40 cryptocurrency addresses allegedly linked to the controversial Tornado Cash mixer to the Office of Foreign Asset Control, or OFAC, list of Specially Designated Nationals.

In an announcement on Monday, OFAC effectively banned US residents from using Tornado Cash and placed 44 USD Coin (USDC) and Ether (ETH) addresses connected to the mixer on its list of specially designated nationals. The department alleged that individuals and groups used the mixer to launder more than $7 billion worth of crypto since 2019, including the $455 million stolen by North Korea-affiliated Lazarus Group. The protocol has also been at the center of some recent hacks and exploits in decentralized finance, including a $375 million attack on Wormhole in February and a $100 million hack on Horizon Bridge in June.

“Despite public assurances to the contrary, Tornado Cash has repeatedly failed to impose effective controls designed to prevent it from laundering funds to malicious cyber actors on a regular basis and without basic measures to address its risks” said Brian Nelson, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. “Treasury will continue to aggressively pursue actions against mixers that...