Washington sanctions 19 entities while $16.6B in US losses intensifies pressure
The post Washington sanctions 19 entities while $16.6B in US losses intensifies pressure appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
The United States sanctioned 19 entities in Myanmar and Cambodia tied to cyber-fraud compounds that target victims worldwide, adding new names to the OFAC sanctions list. The move raises immediate compliance requirements for banks, payment firms, and crypto venues that could touch these actors through correspondent flows or dollar-linked stablecoins. Sanctions block property and prohibit U.S. persons from dealings with designated entities, and they expose non-U.S. firms to secondary risk if transactions route through the United States. Screening must extend beyond named entities to ownership structures under OFAC’s 50 Percent Rule, and counterparties should be checked against the Specially Designated Nationals list. Those controls, combined with wallet-level checks by major stablecoin issuers and exchanges, form the near-term enforcement perimeter. The entities are linked to compounds along the Thai-Myanmar border, including hubs around Shwe Kokko and Myawaddy that rely on trafficked labor. A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime analysis estimates scam-compound profits near $40 billion annually, underscoring the scale of flows that can intersect with crypto rails. Myanmar remains on the Financial Action Task Force’s list of high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action, per the FATF’s June 13 statement. Regionally, Thailand curtailed electricity, fuel, and data to border areas hosting compounds, according to The Diplomat and local coverage in the Bangkok Post, yet operators adapted with portable connectivity. Recent imagery and reporting also show continued expansion of Myanmar compounds, including KK Park.. Stablecoins and crime On the digital rails, stablecoins remain central to scam cash-outs and laundering. The Chainalysis 2025 Crypto Crime Report documents the migration of illicit settlement to dollar-pegged tokens, while TRM Labs’ analysis details pig-butchering rings’ preference for USDT on TRON because of speed and cost, and shows recent U.S. actions tied to these flows. Industry collaboration has accelerated: the Tether-TRON-TRM “T3” initiative has…
Filed under: News - @ September 9, 2025 10:26 am