Binance Helps US Officials Freeze $4.4M Linked To N. Korean Cybercrime Syndicates

Binance, the world's largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange platform by trading volume, has announced that it assisted U.S. law enforcement in its crackdown on North Korean cybercrime organizations and helped seize $4.4 million worth of crypto assets.

The Binance Investigations team partnered with law enforcement in freezing the accounts linked with the crime, the crypto exchange said, according to CryptoSlate.

"We are proud to have assisted US law enforcement in seizing $4.4M and freezing accounts linked to North Korean organized crime," Binance wrote in a Twitter thread. "Kudos to our law enforcement partners and the Binance Investigations team for their unwavering commitment to combating crime worldwide."

"We proactively took action against accounts connected to these individuals over a year ago, in compliance with lawfully served warrants and in collaboration with law enforcement," the thread continued.

Prior to Binance's announcement, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released a statement Tuesday, saying that it had sanctioned four entities and one individual for being involved in "obfuscated revenue generation and malicious cyber activities that support the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Government."

These malicious cyber activities have been targeting IT workers and generating revenue, including in virtual currency, for unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, the statement said.

The four entities facing the sanctions are the Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company, Pyongyang University of Automation, Technical Reconnaissance Bureau and the 110th Research Center. An individual, Kim Sang Man, has also been sanctioned.

"Today's action continues to highlight the DPRK's extensive illicit cyber and IT worker operations, which finance the regime's unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.

"The United States and our partners remain committed to combatting the DPRK's illicit revenue generation activities and continued efforts to steal money from financial institutions, virtual currency exchanges, companies, and private individuals around the world," the official added.

In the Tuesday statement, the OFAC did not mention how Binance assisted in the efforts that led to the sanctions being imposed. Binance made a separate announcement on Twitter about its contribution and also said the transparency of blockchain allows it to curb cybercrimes.

"The blockchain provides a tremendous amount of transparency, which enables law enforcement to uncover these types of crimes," Binance said, adding, "We work closely with authorities around the world every day to help prevent crimes and take action against bad actors."

When asked whether Binance has other ongoing collaborative efforts, a spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company is "continuously monitoring our platform for nefarious nation state actors and collaborating with law enforcement."