Feds sanction Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses linked to Russian arms dealer

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The US Treasury today sanctioned two cryptocurrency addresses linked to a Russian arms dealer.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it had blacklisted Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses used by Jonatan Zimenkov, the son of Igor Vladimirovich Zimenkov.

OFAC says father and son Igor and Jonatan Zimenkov worked together to run a sanctions evasion ring that supplied a Russian company with high-tech devices after it invaded Ukraine last year .

Igor Zimenkov worked closely with his son Jonatan Zimenkov and a wide network of individuals and entities to enable Russian defense sales to third-country governments, according to Wednesday’s statement.

He added that Igor and Jonatan Zimenkov have been in contact with sanctioned Russian defense companies. The Zimenkov Network used shell companies to funnel money into the network while trying to maintain a legal appearance, OFAC said.

Both sanctioned Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses currently hold no assets, according to blockchain data.

OFAC has already sanctioned cryptocurrency addresses and products. Perhaps the most high-profile case dates back to last year when it banned US citizens from using Tornado Cash, claiming criminals were using it to launder dirty funds.

Tornado Cash is a coin mixing application. It allows people to send and receive Ethereum anonymously.

OFAC says the app was used by the North Korean state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus Group as a go-to tool to conceal stolen funds.

But the ban has angered many in the crypto community and even some US politicians, such as Rep. Tom Emmer, who say privacy is a right and that blacklisting an app punishes people. bad people.

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