U.S. Treasury Targets Crypto Mixers In Crack Down On Money Laundering Following Hamas Attack

Updated: 20 October 2023

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The US Treasury Department wants to label crypto mixers a ”primary money laundering concern” as it moves to crack down on terrorist groups that have used crypto to raise funds.

The initiative, announced Oct. 19 in a statement by the department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), comes as authorities moved to tighten controls on crypto funding by rogue actors in the wake of the attack on Israel by Hamas earlier this month.

“This is FinCEN’s first-ever use of the Section 311 authority to target a class of transactions of primary money laundering concern,” it said. “The Treasury Department is aggressively combatting illicit use of all aspects of the CVC ecosystem by terrorist groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” it added, using an acronym for Convertible Virtual Currency (CMC) mixing.

Today, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced a proposed rule to increase transparency around international Convertible Virtual Currency Mixing to combat its use by malicious actors including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, & the DPRK. https://t.co/1atRjZnjwo

— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) October 19, 2023

Crypto mixers play a crucial role in enabling individuals involved in ransomware operations, state-sponsored actors, and other criminals to finance their illegal activities and hide the trail of their illicit earnings, said FinCEN director Andrea Gack

Crypto Mixers Threaten National Security

Enhancing transparency around international CVC mixing is vital to combat money laundering and protect national security, FinCEN said. The initiative thus aligns Treasury Department moves to to counteract the actions of groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who engage in violence against innocent civilians, it said.

The new initiative is part of a series of actions taken by the Treasury Department to combat illicit financial activities involving the use of mixing services, it said.

These actions have been prompted by the identification of increased use of technologies that provide anonymity, including CVC mixing, by criminals to hide the origin and movement of funds, it added.

The Treasury Department in August sanctioned virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash, which it said had been used to launder more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since its creation in 2019.

That included more than $455 million stolen by North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group, which was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2019, in the largest known virtual currency heist to date.

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