The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 99: Tornado Cash Sanctioned, Hodlnaut Stops Withdrawals, NFTs on Instagram
The US Treasury Department is sanctioning digital currency mixer Tornado Cash for allegedly laundering more than $7 billion since 2019.
On August 8, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said that cybercriminals regularly used Tornado Cash to launder money. According to OFAC, the total amount laundered through the mixer includes $455 million, which was allegedly taken by North Korea-backed hackers Lazarus Group. This was followed by $96 million worth of funds from June’s Harmony Bridge robbery and at least nearly $8 million from last week’s Nomad attack.
Brian E. Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said Tornado Cash has repeatedly failed to impose effective controls designed to stop it from laundering funds for malicious cyber actors on a regular basis. He added that it also failed to impose basic measures to manage the risks. The United States Treasury is the latest government agency to attempt to prevent illegal activities in the digital asset space.
Worldwide, nearly 13,000 social media accounts were shut down for promoting investments in digital assets in China.
On August 9, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced that it was taking down social media accounts and websites to suppress illegal activities related to the promotion of digital currency investment. Based on the tips of other social media users, the CAC deleted 989 microblogs and over 50,000 posts, in addition to shutting down more than 100 websites.
In Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a new warning against the dangers of handling digital currency. The regulator confirmed it is withdrawing its first “in principle” approval for digital currency lender Hodlnaut. The warning comes after Hodlnaut announced on Monday that they are stopping customer withdrawals. The lender aims to obtain a license for its token services under the Payment Services Act 2019.
In a media statement, MAS said it has repeatedly reminded the public of the risks and dangers of handling digital currencies. “Not only are the values of cryptocurrencies extremely volatile, customers’ money is not protected under the law,” according to a MAS spokesperson in relation to Hodlnaut’s suspension of customer withdrawals.
In other news, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are now supported on Meta’s (NASDAQ: META) Instagram in more than a hundred countries. Mark Zuckerberg, META’s CEO, announced that the company had expanded NFT support to over 100 countries within Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.
This means that users in this region can now share their NFTs on Instagram – in the feed, in stories and even in messages. The feature also allows users to connect to a digital currency wallet.
And before you go, check out the latest episode of Blockchain Beat on the recent Global IoT Summit Dublin 2022 with Becky Liggero Fontana. Plus, watch Patrick Thompson and Tal Elyashiv of SPiCE VC talk about investing in blockchain companies at More than Money.
Watch these videos on the CoinGeek YouTube channel.
See: More Than Money Ep. 12 with SPiCE VC’s Tal Elyashiv
New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeks Bitcoin for beginners section, the ultimate resource guide for learning more about Bitcoin – originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto – and blockchain.
