- North Korea allegedly laundered $147.5M in stolen crypto via Tornado Cash, raising global concerns about cybercrime and sanctions evasion.
- The United Nations has tracked 97 DPRK crypto attacks totaling $3.6B from 2017 to 2024.
- Tornado Cash developer jailed for 64 months for laundering $1.2B.
North Korea is accused of laundering $147.5M in stolen cryptocurrency via Tornado Cash, leading to global concerns about cybercrime and sanctions evasion.
North Korea’s Alleged Crypto Laundering
A report from United Nations sanctions monitors reveals that North Korea allegedly laundered $147.5 million stolen from a cryptocurrency exchange through the Tornado Cash platform in March. This laundering activity is just another case of the international community being worried about the use of cryptocurrencies to evade the global sanctions.
Tracking DPRK’s Crypto Attacks
The monitors have been looking into a total of 97 believed North Korean cyberattacks on cryptocurrency companies from 2017 to 2024, which is worth about $3.6 billion. In the year 2024, for instance, North Korea is suspected of being behind 11 cryptocurrency thefts worth a total of $54.7 million. A great number of these cases are said to be the work of the DPRK IT workers who were mistakenly employed by small crypto-related companies and thus, they got the indirect access to North Korea to exploit these platforms.
Global Response and Legal Actions
After these findings, the international community has increased its attention and restriction actions against Tornado Cash, which is frequently used by hackers to hide the origin of dirty money. In 2022, the U. S. government imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash, claiming that it was a money-laundering tool that was used by the North Korean cybercriminals. This decision was a part of the wider programme to control digital platforms that are used for financial fraud.
Conclusion
The situation became more clear when the developer of Tornado Cash, Alexey Pertsev, was sentenced to 64 months in prison by a Dutch court for the laundering of over $1.2 billion. This case has shown the constant problems and legal difficulties of the cryptocurrency activities that are worldwide, especially those that can be related to the international security threats.
