FINCast Ep. 19 - The DPRK Sanctions Program
On March 21, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) officially lifted sanctions on Tornado Cash, the decentralized cryptocurrency mixer it had blacklisted in August 2022....more
On November 26, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) against a decentralized cryptocurrency mixing service (a...more
U.S. government agencies continue to take action against cryptocurrency mixing services that enable cybercriminals to obfuscate the trail of stolen proceeds on public blockchains stemming from illicit cyber activity. On...more
In two prior posts, this blog tracked the ongoing intrigue of how the various branches of the United States government interact with blockchain and cryptocurrency organizations. We discussed the Wyoming law allowing...more
DeFi, Stablecoin Products Launch; Bitcoin Network Spikes Due to NFTs - According to reports, a new decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol recently launched that allows users to deposit the stablecoins USDC or DAI in a...more
Executive Summary - The North Korean threat to the crypto ecosystem is the highest form of immediate risk to the crypto-economy driven by a regime that seeks to profit from its misuse to reinforce its regime and fuel all its...more
TikTok Will Partner with Oracle in the United States After Microsoft Loses Bid - "TikTok and Oracle will become business partners in the United States — a deal meant to satisfy the Trump administration's national security...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil forfeiture complaint detailing two hacks of virtual currency exchanges by North Korean actors. These actors stole millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency or other...more
In the past, sanctioned jurisdictions like Venezuela have embraced virtual currency as a way to bypass channels that involve U.S. dollars, blunting the impact of U.S. economic sanctions policies aimed at isolating those...more
CEP Magazine (February 2020) - Virgil Griffith, an American citizen, was arrested Nov. 30 after speaking on blockchain solutions at the April 2019 Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference in North Korea....more
U.S. Developments - U.S. Regulatory Developments - Bill Addressing Tax Treatment of Crypto Transactions Introduced to the House - On January 16, 2020, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA) and Congressman David Schweikert...more