U.Today - The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has taken decisive action against the Bitcoin mixer Sinbad.io, it on Wednesday for its alleged role in facilitating North Korean money laundering activities.
Accompanying this sanction, the Sinbad website now bears a seizure notice. Elliptic Research has identified two Bitcoin addresses directly associated with Sinbad in the OFAC's designation while also noting the existence of thousands more potentially linked to the mixer.
Sinbad has been implicated in several major cyber thefts, including the high-profile Harmony’s Horizon bridge and Axie Infinity bridge hacks in 2022.
The Treasury's investigation links Sinbad to the , a notorious state-sponsored cyber hacking group from North Korea. Sinbad has not only been used in these specific hacks but also in laundering proceeds from other major thefts such as Stake.com, CoinEx, FTX, and BadgerDAO.
Sinbad's ties to Blender.io
Elliptic's early 2023 research suggested that Sinbad could be a rebranded version of Blender.io, the first-ever cryptocurrency mixer to face OFAC sanctions in May 2022. Blender.io was penalized for laundering millions on behalf of North Korea's Lazarus Group. The similarities between Sinbad and Blender are striking, with evidence suggesting the same individuals or group may be operating both platforms.This includes matching transaction patterns, service structures, language use, and even website designs, all pointing to a strong connection between the two mixers.