A handful of Democratic US Representatives are grilling Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the continued accessibility of Twister Money, an Ethereum (ETH)-based coin mixing system that helps customers conceal their digital belongings.
The US sanctioned the controversial mission in 2022 for nationwide safety functions, however seven members of the Home of Representatives wrote to Yellen final week to request details about the mixer and its present use.
The group of lawmakers, which incorporates vocal anti-crypto critic Brad Sherman (D-California), says Twister Money has remained on-line and continued to perform as decentralized sensible contracts regardless of the sanctions.
“Twister Money’s U.S.-based web site was pulled down, although its sensible contracts can run indefinitely, and anybody can technically use Twister Money at any time. The user-friendly web site made it simpler to make the most of the service, although ‘refined’ customers can nonetheless instantly entry its sensible contracts, in line with the Justice Division.
Cryptocurrency mixers current critical nationwide safety dangers and are utilized by quite a lot of illicit actors, together with North Korea, Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Because the Treasury Division has famous, as a result of strain of U.S. and United Nations sanctions, North Korea has resorted to illicit actions, together with cyber-enabled heists from cryptocurrency exchanges and monetary establishments, to generate income for its illegal weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile applications. Since 2017, North Korean hackers have stolen greater than $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency, in line with UN sanctions specialists.”
The legislators requested the Treasury Division to offer estimates of the extent of illicit and bonafide exercise that has been funneled by Twister Money since August 2022. Additionally they ask whether or not the Treasury Division is taking motion in opposition to people and/or crypto exchanges that settle for combined funds from the platform.
One among Twister Money’s founders, Roman Storm, was arrested final yr and slapped with prices associated to allegedly laundering $1 billion in legal proceeds, together with a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} for the Lazarus Group, the sanctioned North Korean cybercriminal outfit.
Storm’s trial was lately pushed from December to April 2025.
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