Wally Adeyemo, undersecretary of the US Treasury Department, said the department will likely apply more sanctions to companies involved in illicit transactions related to payments from ransomware attacks.
At an online event hosted by the Center for a New American Security with former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, Adeyemo said the US government would likely use its tools by employing sanctions when criminals threaten national security interests. Specifically, he mentioned as possible objectives “cryptocurrency exchanges or mixers that are primarily dedicated to helping cybercriminals.”
“Our view is that the vast majority of digital assets are used for legitimate purposes, but for those that are primarily dedicated to promoting criminal activity, we plan to use our tools to go after them.” Adeyemo said. “We also have to admit that ultimately the growth of digital assets is a challenge that we have to address when it comes to our sanctions regimes.”
Adeyemo added that any investigation into sanctions for illicit crypto transactions would include collaboration from the FBI, the intelligence community and other agencies. His comments follow a report on October 18 that claimed that the department needed to do more to develop its infrastructure and policies regarding digital assets, as they were hampering the application of sanctions while balancing the funds of legitimate humanitarian organizations. The report suggested that the US Treasury should be modernized to include “the right expertise, technology and personnel” to deal with digital assets.
The government department has been employing sanctions as part of the United States’ efforts to fight ransomware attacks that threaten the country’s infrastructure, like when hackers from the Russian group, DarkSide, attacked the Colonial Pipeline system in May. Last month, the department announced that it would impose sanctions on the Czech Republic, as well as the Russia-based company Suex OTC, for allegedly allowing hackers to access cryptocurrencies sent as payment for ransomware attacks.
Keep reading: