Photo : YONHAP News
The United States lifted sanctions against a company that was used by North Korean hackers in laundering stolen cryptocurrency. According to the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday, it has exercised a discretion to remove economic sanctions against Tornado Cash. The company was slapped with the sanctions on suspicion of providing hacking groups with links to the North's Reconnaissance General Bureau, such as the Lazarus Group, with a "mixer" service that makes it harder to track crypto transactions. However, users of Tornado Cash filed a lawsuit against the sanctions, after which a U.S. court ordered their revocation last November. The department said the decision was made after reviewing legal and policy issues raised by the use of sanctions within "evolving technology and legal environments."
It stressed that the U.S. remains committed to enforcing sanctions against the North to constrain the regime's ability to fund its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.