The U.S. Department of the Treasury took the historic step of adding two Bitcoin addresses to its list of sanctioned parties against two Iran-based individuals—Ali Khorashadizadeh and Mohammad Ghorbaniyan. Their bitcoin addresses, associated with the SamSam ransomware scheme, were key as they targeted over 200 known victims in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. But what’s striking is how much money they managed to make. Through the magic of the blockchain, we can see every single transaction they’ve ever done in the two seized wallets. Some quick forensics don’t show any major withdrawals, like the kind you would see if the Feds emptied a bank account into an evidence bag.…
Iran's power grid may be strained to capacity, but regulated crypto mining could make bypassing sanctions cheaper (Photo: Shutterstock)