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Last week, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a US Treasury structure, added two Bitcoin addresses to the list of sanctions (the so-called list of special categories and prohibited people). The office announced that these portfolios are associated with two citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khorashadizadeh and Mohammad Ghorbaniyan.
These sanctions, the first of its kind, are part of a campaign led by US authorities to monitor and limit digital activities, including money laundering and cybercrime.
Moreover, the OFAC stated that it would monitor the exchanges that carried out the transactions of sanctioned people: "We publish the addresses of the digital currencies in order to identify the attackers who operate in the digital space. Iran and other authoritarian regimes seeking to exploit digital currencies and vulnerabilities in cyberspace, and enforce customer verification and anti-money laundering laws to prevent them from achieving their criminal goals. "According to the OFAC, the The reason for the sanctions was the fact that Khorashadizadeh and Ghorbaniyan were involved in hacker attacks using the SamSam virus.
In addition to the sanctions imposed on Khorashadizadeh and Ghorbaniyan, two other Iranians, Faramarz Shahi Sawandi and Mohammad Mehdi Shah Mansouri, have been formally accused by the US authorities of conspiring for the transfer of fraudulent money, for deliberately damaging computers and illegal computer requirements. protected.
The SamSam virus has infected more than 200 targets, including hospitals, companies, universities and government services.
In an interview with journalists, Ghorbaniyan said, "I did not know that the SamSam virus was associated with the bitcoins I received from these two customers, I swear I'm still not sure if these people really support the crimes committed by SamSam Compared to client identity verification laws and I have no reason to suspect that my clients are going through the identity verification process. "
The provision adopted by the US Treasury creates an important precedent for the cryptocurrency sector.
While Iran is under pressure from a series of US economic sanctions and Bitcoin is becoming more common in this country, it is quite possible that we are talking about a whole series of restrictive measures. And the consequences for the exchanges that have been implicated in (allegedly) crimes can be deplorable.
Segal Mandelker, head of the Department for Combating Terrorist Financing and Treasury Financial Intelligence, explains: "As Iran becomes more isolated and demand for US dollars grows, it is important that trade cryptocurrency, peer-to-peer platforms and other cryptocurrency service providers have protected their networks from these criminal schemes. "
In addition to the fact that they are trying to stop illegal Bitcoin transactions, the authorities are also looking for ways to control the "confidential" Monero and Zcash currencies. According to the forces of order, the "confidential" character makes them a convenient tool in the hands of criminals.
The media reports that the US Department of Homeland Security is pursuing the idea of creating a tool to track and identify users of private currencies, just as Chainalysis did with the bitcoin blockchain.
