Cryptocurrency News Official TheBitTimes.com

OFAC targets Ekaterina Zhdanova for laundering over $100m via crypto, evading sanctions for Russian oligarchs and aiding ransomware affiliates. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced sanctions against Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national implicated in significant money laundering operations involving cryptocurrencies. Zhdanova is accused of facilitating over $100 million in transactions for a Russian oligarch to the United Arab Emirates, as well as handling large sums for a Ryuk ransomware affiliate.  NEW!!! United States is sanction ing Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national, for her role in laundering hundreds of millions of dollars using virtual currency on behalf of sanction ed russian elites . pic.twitter.com/zvVuuFgFIT — Alex Raufoglu (@ralakbar) November 3, 2023 According to OFAC’s investigation, Zhdanova’s activities offered a channel for Russian elites to maintain their wealth and status despite the extens...

Blockchain forensic firm Elliptic noted that 1inch has become popular among bad actors due to its design as an aggregator. Decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator 1inch is now the “most used service for laundering funds” from illicit activity in the world as decentralized finance (defi) applications have become a focal point for criminal activity. In a now-deleted blog post (still available in Google web cache), more than $322 million of illicit funds went through 1inch ’s contracts since 2019. Researchers at the blockchain firm attribute this inflow of funds to the protocol’s design, saying that 1inch was initially made to work as an aggregator to interact with other DEXs’ liquidity pools to optimize cross-asset swaps. Elliptic pointed out that 1inch’s recent updates also help cybercriminals hide their tracks, saying that criminals can now instantly swap their illicit funds at scale using limit orders, a functionality that was introduced in 2...