The United States imposes sanctions on North Korea's cryptocurrency money laundering network.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on two individuals and one entity for laundering cryptocurrency for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The two Chinese nationals, Lu Huaying and Zhang Jian, were involved in cryptocurrency laundering activities as part of a larger illicit network led by the sanctioned North Korean bank representative, Shin Hyun-seop. The two worked for a shell company in the UAE named Green Alpine Trading, which has been accused of being a core component of the laundering network and has been designated as a sanctioned entity. North Korea continues to exploit agents and agencies to enter the international financial system for illicit financial activities, including fraudulent IT work, digital asset theft, and money laundering, to support its illegal weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. North Korean-backed hacking organizations, including the Lazarus Group, have been accused of orchestrating some of the largest cryptocurrency hacking incidents, such as the $600 million hack of the Ronin Ethereum sidechain in 2022. State-sponsored cryptocurrency hacking groups in North Korea have reportedly earned around 50% of the country's foreign exchange, a significant portion of which is alleged to be used for the development of weapons of mass destruction.