USA blacklists 2 bitcoin addresses, threatens with secondary sanctions!

[aliashraf]

I made this post in my other topic : The situation with Iran, but it seems to go beyond that scope, so I started this one:

Today, the US federal agency in charge of Iran sanctions, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), for the first time in bitcoin history, announced two bitcoin addresses associated to two Iranian individuals subject to secondary sanctions!

link= https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm556

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action today against two Iran-based individuals, Ali Khorashadizadeh and Mohammad Ghorbaniyan, who helped exchange digital currency (bitcoin) ransom payments into Iranian rial on behalf of Iranian malicious cyber actors involved with the SamSam ransomware scheme that targeted over 200 known victims.  Also today, OFAC identified two digital currency addresses associated with these two financial facilitators.  Over 7,000 transactions in bitcoin, worth millions of U.S. dollars, have processed through these two addresses - some of which involved SamSam ransomware derived bitcoin. In a related action, the U.S. Department of Justice today indicted two Iranian criminal actors for infecting numerous data networks with SamSam ransomware in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada since 2015.  

“Treasury is targeting digital currency exchangers who have enabled Iranian cyber actors to profit from extorting digital ransom payments from their victims.  As Iran becomes increasingly isolated and desperate for access to U.S. dollars, it is vital that virtual currency exchanges, peer-to-peer exchangers, and other providers of digital currency services harden their networks against these illicit schemes,” said Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker.  “We are publishing digital currency addresses to identify illicit actors operating in the digital currency space. Treasury will aggressively pursue Iran and other rogue regimes attempting to exploit digital currencies and weaknesses in cyber and AML/CFT safeguards to further their nefarious objectives.”

Obviously, the two addresses belong to Iranian local bitcoin traders/exchanges that has been transacting bitcoin for years and the accusation of being "involved" in processing ransomware related addresses is just an excuse for weakening bitcoin in Iran by threatening people all around the world.

It is a declaration of war against bitcoin too. The dick heads in Trump administration has no clue about what they are talking about! How in the hell bitcoiners should avoid this two addresses to transact with?

And it is a proof of what I'm saying about the shady zone getting narrower:

I guess, it is no more possible for bitcoiners to live in the gray zone, it is just fading out, the gray zone:

Trump needs even more centralization of power for running his version of Fascism, Putin has already centralized everything in Russia (again) and Chinese have no clue about what a non-centralized form of power could ever be.

In monetary systems, AML/KYC discourse is getting more aggressive on a daily basis, It is about Orwell 1984 rather than Satoshi Nakamoto 2009. The true force behind bitcoin falling down is this trend and the fact that bitcoiners are doing almost nothing about it other than sticking with their few coins and waiting for dick heads in regulatory agencies to show merci and absorb them in the so-called 'legal system'.

As a smart con artist, Craig Faketoshi Wrong has understood the situation and made a decision: "Don't be shy Craig, you've never been, choose the wrong side as usual and figure out a way to keep talking in public."

The rest of bitcoiners? They are just shy!

Just a few days after the above post and they are blacklisting bitcoin addresses and threatening bitcoiners all around the world by their brutal secondary sanctions!

What?! You think they may be following my posts?

But seriously, isn't it the moment of truth for bitcoin?  

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[LeGaulois]

There is no point in blocking 2 addresses knowing that a person can very well use a mixer, or use a privacy coin like Horizen. Privacy coins are a great example for oppressive governments.  USA is just trying to make Iran look like the Boogeyman. Even if the US requests an extradition, I doubt Iran will accept it. The tension between USA, China, Iran, Russia, North Korea, is all about getting control over the rare-earth element (REE) North Korea is the only country worldwide with so many resources. Other countries are mainly interested to be free from the US politic, central banks, control, etc.

Trump isn't my president, I don't have to follow him, except when he says he catches vaginas with his fingers like the bowling balls   (joking)

[minairia3]

There is no point in blocking 2 addresses knowing that a person can very well use a mixer, or use a privacy coin like Horizen. Privacy coins are a great example for oppressive governments.  USA is just trying to make Iran look like the Boogeyman. Even if the US requests an extradition, I doubt Iran will accept it. The tension between USA, China, Iran, Russia, North Korea, is all about getting control over the rare-earth element (REE) North Korea is the only country worldwide with so many resources. Other countries are mainly interested to be free from the US politic, central banks, control, etc.

Trump isn't my president, I don't have to follow him, except when he says he catches vaginas with his fingers like the bowling balls   (joking)

  good one.

I wonder what will be the implication if Iran will ally with China. It would take a little time now to have China as the superpower that will surpass even Russia. Their strategy with the self sufficiency and self sustainability is effective as they are using the network effect well. They have been long gone to use their people as their primary resource. That's why the crypto power does not affect them since they can create the monetary system.

[BTCGOLD]

Someone really has no brain at all. How do you want to stop someone from transferring BTC from "blocked" addresses to, for example, my address?!? And what if someone from the "banned" address sends me BTC? I will also be a criminal at the moment ?! Paranoia!

[AGD]

Both addresses will soon be forgotten:
https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1AjZPMsnmpdK2Rv9KQNfMurTXinscVro9V
https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/149w62rY42aZBox8fGcmqNsXUzSStKeq8C

Some money landed here: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/329TGdi3YgYh6oB8ko7BeYEYvB2WCHZVyT
They will blacklist this one, too? This process might be a little to slow. Why not blacklist EVERY address?

[mk4]

Someone really has no brain at all. How do you want to stop someone from transferring BTC from "blocked" addresses to, for example, my address?!? And what if someone from the "banned" address sends me BTC? I will also be a criminal at the moment ?! Paranoia!

"Blocked" probably meaning that the government contacted multiple exchanges to not receive any bitcoin from that specific address. It's definitely not going to be effective for long though.

[hugeblack]

I was wondered about the ability of governments to track and stop transactions in cryptocurrencies.

What happens next is probably a scenario that will track all the coins in those addresses and then freeze them once it reaches a central platform or freeze the money of whoever makes exchanges with those addresses "This will involve mixing services" and thus become coins with the inability to spend .

In my view, Bitcoin is designed to conduct transactions without the need for banks or any credible third party, governments freeze or enact laws to protect their people. "Now you look at it from the point of view of the Iranians, not the Americans" does not interfere with transactions without the need for a third party.
If you want to fully decentralize, use cryptos designed for privacy.

[satosibtc1000]

Someone really has no brain at all. How do you want to stop someone from transferring BTC from "blocked" addresses to, for example, my address?!? And what if someone from the "banned" address sends me BTC? I will also be a criminal at the moment ?! Paranoia!

I agree with you and do not understand how you can block anything in the blockchain, in my opinion it is a decentralized system.

[aplistir]

Someone really has no brain at all. How do you want to stop someone from transferring BTC from "blocked" addresses to, for example, my address?!? And what if someone from the "banned" address sends me BTC? I will also be a criminal at the moment ?! Paranoia!

I agree with you and do not understand how you can block anything in the blockchain, in my opinion it is a decentralized system.

Exactly!
It was actually tried once in the past with stolen coins. It ended up with many innocent people having "blacklisted" coins and exchanges blocking them.
It ended quickly when it just did not work.

If you have 1000BTC and receive 0.01 blaclisted BTC, and consolidate your inputs, then your whole 1000.001 BTC wallet has to be blacklisted. Soon the whole network has to be "blaklisted" and then what.

Also. If you move your coins to new address (without using mixers) it could mean that you moved them to a new address of yours OR that you sold them to a new owner. When tracking coins you can newer be 100% certain if/when ownership has changed.

[maianh09]

This information really affects the Crypto community. The fact that significant nations around the world have declared the imposition of sanctions and bans on Bitcoin will make all markets fall further. I'm petrified that things will get worse as the market becomes more and more boring.

[aliashraf]

Both addresses will soon be forgotten:
https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1AjZPMsnmpdK2Rv9KQNfMurTXinscVro9V
https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/149w62rY42aZBox8fGcmqNsXUzSStKeq8C

Some money landed here: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/329TGdi3YgYh6oB8ko7BeYEYvB2WCHZVyT
They will blacklist this one, too? This process might be a little to slow. Why not blacklist EVERY address?

They have to, eventually, Trump got so many "talented" people around him.

[AGD]

Both addresses will soon be forgotten:
https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1AjZPMsnmpdK2Rv9KQNfMurTXinscVro9V
https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/149w62rY42aZBox8fGcmqNsXUzSStKeq8C

Some money landed here: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/329TGdi3YgYh6oB8ko7BeYEYvB2WCHZVyT
They will blacklist this one, too? This process might be a little to slow. Why not blacklist EVERY address?

They have to, eventually, Trump got so many "talented" people around him.

We are doomed............. NOT!

[Oniko]

This is already very serious. The United States once again speak negatively about cryptocurrencies. I think that special services need to deal with Iranian subjects and not to touch Bitcoin in this case

[dothebeats]

I don't really understand why the USA is trying so hard to act as the global police on these sort of things when in fact, they just wanted control and that's pretty much it. Also, the plan to blacklist addresses is just out of this world; it will never work since mixers and other methods to obfuscate taints and trails are already existing. I doubt that they will even pursue this as hard as they can since it will be a dire effort no matter how hard they follow the taint. Somehow, they will have to ban a huge number of addresses should the guys owning the said coins wanted to play some sort of game or to just hide their tracks completely.

[kryptqnick]

Today, the US federal agency in charge of Iran sanctions, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), for the first time in bitcoin history, announced two bitcoin addresses associated to two Iranian individuals subject to secondary sanctions!

Obviously, the two addresses belong to Iranian local bitcoin traders/exchanges that has been transacting bitcoin for years and the accusation of being "involved" in processing ransomware related addresses is just an excuse for weakening bitcoin in Iran by threatening people all around the world.

It is a declaration of war against bitcoin too.

Well, I disagree that this is a declaration of war against bitcoin. I don't think the US federal agency would've made such a statement without having strong grounds to do so. Even though bitcoin transactions don't contain any information about the ownership of accounts, these Iranians could've written their addresses to some people of something like that. They could expose their wallets is all I'm saying. If they caught people who hacked someone's computer and asked for money to return the access to files to those people - I think they fully deserve to be deprived of those bitcoins they got from their business and this has nothing to do with hating cryptos. If these people, however, never knew who they were transacting with and what they were helping to do, then it is unfair.

[mlsbd]

Both of addressed stored over 6000 Bitcoin
149w62rY42aZBox8fGcmqNsXUzSStKeq8C
1AjZPMsnmpdK2Rv9KQNfMurTXinscVro9V

But it's happened in 2017 when ransomware attacked in few countries. Every deposit transaction is small but withdrawn was big.
Hacker is a iranian or USA citizen?

[coolcoinz]

To me it only proves how robust Bitcoin is. They managed to track and blacklist 2 addresses and there was a number of agents working on the case. This much effort and money spent to deal with 2 addresses, while somebody could make a new one and move the coins within minutes. And look how they're bragging about it like it's some kind of a great achievement.

[aliashraf]

Today, the US federal agency in charge of Iran sanctions, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), for the first time in bitcoin history, announced two bitcoin addresses associated to two Iranian individuals subject to secondary sanctions!

Obviously, the two addresses belong to Iranian local bitcoin traders/exchanges that has been transacting bitcoin for years and the accusation of being "involved" in processing ransomware related addresses is just an excuse for weakening bitcoin in Iran by threatening people all around the world.

It is a declaration of war against bitcoin too.

Well, I disagree that this is a declaration of war against bitcoin. I don't think the US federal agency would've made such a statement without having strong grounds to do so. Even though bitcoin transactions don't contain any information about the ownership of accounts, these Iranians could've written their addresses to some people of something like that. They could expose their wallets is all I'm saying. If they caught people who hacked someone's computer and asked for money to return the access to files to those people - I think they fully deserve to be deprived of those bitcoins they got from their business and this has nothing to do with hating cryptos. If these people, however, never knew who they were transacting with and what they were helping to do, then it is unfair.

If you check the statement made by them, they are saying:

Over 7,000 transactions in bitcoin, worth millions of U.S. dollars, have processed through these two addresses - some of which involved SamSam ransomware derived bitcoin ...

It is obvious that they are faking the whole ransomware story. The addresses are used  by ordinary people as deposit like cold wallets or something. They have bought bitcoin from many sources and "some of which" are tracked down to "ransomware derived" btc. The important missing part is the way they have spotted the two Iranian citizens. My guess: the victims have used centralized exchanges like normal naive bitcoiners not like pros or smart people who are aware of their situation being an Iranian under prosecution by a hostile enemy because of their nationality.

So, what's the deal? The fools in the US treasury have spotted two rich but naive Iranians and by fooling people about ransomware thing which is totally fake, are trying to do something about it or at least show something about it.

But I maintain that it is a declaration of war against bitcoin, because they can simply use it as an excuse to prosecute every individual/exchange/... they wish to by pretending to be following related addresses. But who is not related?

They are also making excuses to encourage (actually escalate) censorship and discrimination against Iranian citizens in bitcoin ecosystem. It is an attack against bitcoin too questioning its anti-censorship features.

[Zin-Zang]

But seriously, isn't it the moment of truth for bitcoin?  

This is the beginning of their btc address blacklist of censorship,

Any US Miner or non-US Miner that they can inflict monetary or criminal damages too,
that includes a transaction to or from the above address will face monetary or criminal penalties as a result.
At 1st they post these warnings , after about a year where their is continued ignoring of the warnings,
they will go after the miners that included the transactions in the blockchain.

The Swedish banks cowered to the US Gov. regulations, it is most amusing ,
that you think a few guys running ASICS warehouse sponsored by VCs, have a moral virtue, their only obligation is to their own greed, unfortunately.
PoW always Centralized and as such , this control becomes possible over time.

Since BTC allows the miners to choose which transactions to process, it gives them a weakness that the US Gov. plans to exploit.
Coins that include all transactions in linear order, without choosing , would at least have a leg to stand on in court, btc does not.

So what happens after wards, is miners that refuse to obey the new address blacklist that is updated by the World Governments,
will have their power cut off, and face legal problems, where as the ones that obey the new address black list will be granted easier access to electricity.

People that had the virtue & moral backbone to resist this type of censorship have already been pushed out of the btc mining due to excessive input costs, years ago. Now all you have is businessmen that want to get along to keep the money flowing in.

 

FYI:
Just because you not a US miner, does not mean you are safe,
many other countries will join the US in this crackdown, just so they can include address they want blocked in the blacklist.

[franky1]

what its not saying is the 2 exchanges and the 2 randsomware people knew of each other and the exchangers knew they were funding ransomware and didnt report it
they were running an illegal exchange

the 2 published addresses are just posting proof that funds looped through the exchange that originated from the ransomware
to show proof of a financial relationship. but an actual AML crime is about knowing the PEOPLE receiving the funds and exchanging the fiat knew of the crime and still funded the criminals without reporting the criminals.

imagine detroit. street dealing fiat. imagine a dealer walked into walmart to buy gum.. walmart CEO is not liable because although fiat can be traced through its cashiers draw, there also needs to be proof that walmart knew their customer was a drug dealer and helped the drug dealer process a transaction.

what the treasury is not saying but the law requires is that an exchange could end up in trouble if it can be proven that there is a joint relationship and knowledge of a crime. and that the ones knowingly trading with criminals didnt report it. and that they were operating as a money business without a money business licence

its not a blanket ban that anyone touching funds with taint of criminal proceeds. otherwise walmart managers in detroit would get arrested for simply accepting cash payments