Cryptocurrencies
U.S. Exposes Bitcoin Addresses of Sanctioned Iranians
- SamSam ransomware attacks targeted over 200 known victims
- Over 7,000 transactions were processed through two addresses
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The U.S. government just weakened one of Bitcoin’s key selling points: its ability to keep users’ identities private.
In imposing sanctions on two Iran-based individuals it said helped facilitate ransom payments made in Bitcoin, the Office of Foreign Assets Control for the first time linked digital-currency addresses with specific individuals. The Treasury Department branch said in a statement on Wednesday that Ali Khorashadizadeh and Mohammad Ghorbaniyan helped Iranian hackers exchange those Bitcoin payments into the local currency.