New US Treasury sanctions on Russian hackers hit Monero address

Per its Wednesday additions to its list of sanctioned individuals, the United States Treasury Department is targeting Monero (XMR) addresses. According to the Treasury’s announcement on the subject, the two engineered an elaborate phishing campaign targeting U.S. citizens in 2017 and 2018.

Surprisingly, Karasavidi’s information includes a Monero address: the Treasury has been updating its crypto capabilities, including last week targeting the crypto wallets of several Russian nationals allegedly involved in election interference and government-sponsored misinformation campaigns, this is the first time sanctions have singled out an XMR address. Regarding the announcement, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said: Crypto analytics firms that contract with the U.S. government such as Ciphertrace have been busy developing Monero-tracing tools.

Timeline of Monero