This week in the crypto world we saw the Tornado Cash co-founders arrested, Binance dumped by two partners, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration get fooled by a basic crypto scam.
Now, come on, it’s not funny.
Binance Dumped by Two Partners
Binance suffered heartbreak twice this week as it was dumped by two partners, leaving its empire a little more constricted than this time last week. First was Checkout.com, which cut ties with the exchange having been the bedrock of Binance Connect, Binance’s buy-and-sell crypto service.
Checkout processed between $300 million and $400 million in Binance transactions through Binance Connect and other products, but has terminated its contract following the various regulatory actions that have targeted the exchange in recent months. Binance is thought to be considering legal action over the matter.
Just days later, Binance was forced to scrap its Binance Card in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Bahrain after Mastercard ended the partnership between the two. No reasons were given for the decision, with users given a month until their accounts are closed.
It’s not lookin’ good, bruv.
Tornado Cash Founders Sanctioned
The two founders of sanctioned mixer Tornado Cash were sanctioned this week after being charged in the US with money laundering and sanctions violations. Roman Storm, who was also arrested, and Roman Semenov were both sanctioned for their role in allowing North Korean hackers to launder billions in stolen funds. Semenov has been added to the OFAC’s specially designated nationals list for his involvement.
Tornado Cash was sanctioned around this time last year, starting a legal argument that has seen companies such as Coinbase joining with privacy advocates in saying that computer code should not be sanctionable.
DEA Falls for Basic Crypto Scam
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently fell victim to an entry-level cryptocurrency scam, resulting in a loss of more than $55,000, after the agency failed to check the recipient address.
The incident occurred after the DEA seized around $500,000 in USDT from two suspected illegal narcotics accounts on Binance. These funds were stored in a secured facility under the DEA’s control, but a cunning scammer was able to trick agents into sending more than 10% of it to his account after using an address that was similar enough to the actual address to fool them.
