Three members of the United States Senate have reportedly sent a letter to the White House and Treasury Department in an effort to crack down on North Korea using cryptocurrency to fund its nuclear program and evade sanctions.
According to an Aug. 4 report in The Wall Street Journal, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine and Chris Van Hollen requested the Biden administration provide information on how the U.S. government was working to address the illicit use of digital assets by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The letter cited reports claiming North Korean hackers have been behind the theft of more than $3 billion worth of crypto since 2018, funds being used to fund part of the country’s missile program.
“North Korea has methodically built its expertise in digital assets over the past few years,” the three senators reportedly wrote.
Multiple news agencies have reported hackers connected to North Korea were responsible for stealing billions of dollars in crypto, sometimes using mixers in an attempt to hide funds from authorities. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control cited concerns over crypto being used to fund North Korea’s nuclear program in adding Tornado Cash to its list of sanctioned entities in November 2022.
Crypto payments platform @coinspaid suspects North Korea’s Lazarus Group is behind a $37.3 million exploit of its platform on July 22. While customer funds are safe, the firm’s balance sheet took a big hit. https://t.co/IssH0et2Gw
Warren has been behind many efforts to crack down on the illicit use of cryptocurrencies, from suggesting a link between digital asset payments and companies based in China that provided precursors to the opioid fentanyl to proposing legislation for stricter Anti-Money Laundering requirements. In July, she was part of a bipartisan group of senators who pushed provisions against crypto mixers and privacy coins in the National Defense Authorization Act.
Responding to a report about crypto ATM fraud in Wyoming, Senator Cynthia Lummis said the chamber’s market structure bill could address specific risks.
According to the lawsuit, Justin Sun’s crypto holdings included about 60 billion Tron, 17,000 Bitcoin, 224,000 Ether and 700 million Tether as of February.
The Home Office has lost a Court of Appeal bid to challenge a High Court ruling granting an Eritrean man a temporary block on being deported to France.
The ruling will be a blow to ministers, who had been hoping to make headway with their “one in, one out” migrant returns deal with France.
Under the deal, the UK can send back any migrant who crosses the Channel illegally in return for accepting the same number of migrants in France who have a valid asylum claim here.
However, only four people have been deported under the scheme so far, including one Afghan individual who was deported to France this afternoon.
The Eritrean man was granted a temporary block on his removal after he claimed he had been a victim of modern slavery.
The government has said up to 50 people a week could be deported under the scheme initially, but it believes numbers would grow and eventually act as a deterrent to those considering making the dangerous journey across the Channel.
The latest Home Office figures show 1,072 people made the journey in 13 boats – averaging more than 82 people per boat. It means the number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel has topped 30,000 for the year so far.
She has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to end crossings – but the Conservatives have branded the “one in, one out” deal with France “meagre” and have called for their Rwanda policy to be reinstated.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “Yet again the courts have stepped in to block a deportation, proving what we warned from the start, unless you tackle the lawfare strangling Britain’s borders, nothing will change.
“This is nothing but a gimmick. Even if by some miracle it worked, it would still be no deterrent, as 94 per cent of arrivals would still stay.”
Meanwhile, Reform UK has promised to crack down on both legal and illegal migration.
On Monday, he announced fresh policies to reduce legal migration, saying his party would ban access to benefits to migrants and get rid of indefinite leave to remain – the term used to describe the right to settle in the UK, with access to benefits, after five years.