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The Lazarus Group is the mastermind behind the Axie Infinity heist

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Treasury Department has placed three ethereum addresses to its SDN list that are reportedly tied to the Lazarus Group cybercrime gang. The addresses were added a few weeks after the Lazarus Group and North Korean hackers were accused of being behind the $620 million Axie Infinity robbery by US officials.

The US authorities stated the cybercrime gang was part of a network of hackers that spearheaded the Ronin bridge assault, which resulted in the siphoning of over 173,000 ethereum tokens, as previously reported by Bitcoin.com News. Prior to the department's newest update, Tornado Cash, an ethereum mixing project, stated that it was preventing OFAC-sanctioned addresses from utilizing the mixer.

Sanctions Abuse by North Korea

The US Treasury Department said on April 22 via Twitter that barring access to cash at the identified locations would deprive sanctions-evading North Korea of a crucial source of revenue. The statement went on to say:

"The SDN Listing for Lazarus Group now includes three virtual currency wallet addresses from OFAC. While attempting to avoid US and UN sanctions, the DPRK [North Korea] has depended on illegal operations such as cybercrime to generate cash."

While US authorities claim the blockage will prevent North Korea from accessing the stolen cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.com News previously reported that thieves may still move the monies by simply moving them to an unregistered ether address.

In the meanwhile, the US Treasury Department issued a statement warning against trading with the three ethereum addresses, in addition to banning them directly. The statement implied that individuals who did so would be subject to US sanctions.

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