Departemen Keuangan AS Jatuhkan Sanksi kepada 10 Pihak Terkait Pencairan Kripto oleh Pekerja TI Korea Utara

Crypto News and Tradfi News - COINOTAG · 2026-10-31T23:41:43.000Z

• Departemen Keuangan AS menjatuhkan sanksi kepada 10 individu dan satu entitas terkait pencairan kripto oleh pekerja TI Korea Utara. • OFAC menyatakan bahwa warga negara Rusia Vitold Obertas mengonversi hampir $2 juta dalam bentuk kripto untuk pejabat Korea Utara. • Chainalysis melacak pembayaran stablecoin setiap dua minggu dari akhir 2022 hingga awal 2023 kepada seorang pengembang yang terkait dengan DPRK. Sepuluh Individu dan Satu Entitas Disebutkan Departemen Keuangan AS menjatuhkan sanksi kepada 10 individu dan satu entitas yang dituduh membantu pekerja TI Korea Utara mendapatkan pekerjaan di perusahaan-perusahaan resmi dengan identitas palsu dan mencairkan upah mata uang kripto mereka untuk rezim tersebut. Tindakan yang dilakukan melalui Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ini menyebut warga negara Rusia Ilya Aleksandrovich Boykov dan Vitold Viktorovich Obertas, yang diduga mencairkan jutaan dolar dalam bentuk kripto untuk perusahaan-perusahaan kedok yang terlibat. Menurut keterangan Departemen Keuangan tentang jaringan tersebut, hasilnya pada akhirnya mengalir ke program persenjataan Korea Utara.

• US Treasury sanctioned 10 individuals and one entity over North Korean IT worker crypto cash-outs.
• OFAC states Russian national Vitold Obertas converted nearly $2 million in crypto for North Korean officials.
• Chainalysis traced stablecoin payments every two weeks from late 2022 into early 2023 to a DPRK-linked developer.
Ten Individuals, One Entity Named
The US Treasury has sanctioned 10 individuals and one entity accused of helping North Korean IT workers take jobs at legitimate companies under false identities and convert their cryptocurrency wages into cash for the regime. The action, carried out through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), names Russian nationals Ilya Aleksandrovich Boykov and Vitold Viktorovich Obertas, who allegedly cashed out millions of dollars in crypto for the front companies involved. The earnings ultimately flowed to North Korea's weapons programs, according to the Treasury's account of the network.
The scale is large. A United Nations panel of experts estimates the hidden employment operation brings Pyongyang $250 million to $600 million a year, and US assessments put the annual take at up to $600 million. The workers' method has stayed consistent for years: fabricated identities and stolen credentials pass hiring screens, most of the salary is remitted abroad, and the employee keeps enough to look ordinary. The designations also cover Kim Ki-hyok and Kim Hyo-dong, who managed North Korean IT workers inside Russia, and the Russia-based FFTDC, an institution tied to the program. Six IT workers linked to that center directed more than $750,000 in revenue to it from 2025 onward.
Private researchers had mapped parts of the scheme before the government moved. In April, on-chain investigator ZachXBT published records showing a covert North Korean developer cell earned more than $3.5 million in cryptocurrency. Security researcher Taylor Monahan has stated that developers tied to Pyongyang contributed code to protocols including SushiSwap and THORChain. OFAC framed the action as a strike at the financial intermediaries, the layer that turns disguised salaries into usable hard currency. Each designation freezes any US-linked assets the targets hold and bars American persons from dealing with them.
From Biweekly Stablecoin Salary to Garantex
The conversion chain behind the designations is now documented in detail. A Chainalysis report followed one payment trail to a developer who contributed code to blockchain and decentralized finance projects. Between late 2022 and early 2023, the wallet of one such worker collected stablecoin deposits at two-week intervals, a cadence matching a normal salary. The funds were converted into Ethereum (ETH) and routed through consolidation wallet addresses tied to sanctioned entities before reaching Boykov, who forwarded the coins to Garantex, a Russian crypto exchange that US authorities later blacklisted.
Stablecoin payrolls delivered on a fixed schedule have become the default funding method for these placements because they settle instantly and cross borders without a bank. The Ethereum hop added another layer between the salary and the fiat exit, moving value away from the original stablecoin trail. Obertas appears in the record as a financial intermediary for North Korean officials. His wallet received funds from Amnokgang Technology Development Company, a sanctioned organization that managed overseas IT worker delegations. OFAC states he exchanged nearly $2 million worth of cryptocurrency for fiat currency on the officials' behalf. The off-ramp, not the payroll, is where these networks touch regulated infrastructure: the same mechanics described in any guide on how to cash out crypto.
The placement side is getting harder to police at the same time. Chainalysis reported that DPRK-linked workers now submit AI-generated resumes and profile photos, and have used deepfake video in hiring interviews, which makes covert developers harder to flag before they are hired. Garantex itself was blacklisted only after the transfers, a pattern of retroactive exposure that now hangs over any exchange serving similar flows. Consolidation wallets, which pool many workers' proceeds into fewer addresses before conversion, gave investigators the clearest picture of how the money moved. Chainalysis published its findings alongside the Treasury action, giving the designations a documented transaction record behind each name.
The designations aim at the one stage these networks cannot easily hide: conversion. Placement depends on identities that generative tools now forge cheaply, but turning crypto into cash requires counterparties, whether an exchange or a crypto mixer, and every off-ramp leaves a record. Sanctioning the intermediaries raises the cost of touching North Korean funds without needing to locate each worker. Garantex's retroactive blacklisting shows the exposure follows service providers after the fact. Expect further designations aimed at brokers and consolidation services as long as the salary chain keeps producing revenue.