US Treasury targets eight crypto asset wallets tied to Yemen's Houthi movement

By making it illegal to transact with their wallets and flagging the wallets for global awareness, OFAC aims to prohibit transactions and block the liquidation of their property.

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned eight crypto asset wallets tied to Yemen’s Houthi movement.

Houthis are assisting with maritime transport and arms deals from Russia for pro-Iran groups operating in Yemen.

By rendering it illegal to transact with their wallets and flagging the wallets for global awareness, OFAC aims to prevent any transactions and block the liquidation of their property. All US-operated crypto exchanges and services must block access to sanctioned wallets, and it is unlawful for US residents to transact with entities on OFAC’s sanctions list.

“[The Houthi’s] actions threaten the stability of Yemen and the safety and security of the యూఎస్ and our allies, highlighting the urgent need for the international community to cooperate in countering this group’s activity,” stated OFAC Director Elizabeth Brenes in the announcement.

The Houthi group, also known as Ansarallah, was designated by OFAC as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on February 16, 2024. Today’s action adds more granularity to that designation by highlighting the exact crypto wallets that exchanges and other services should block.

As well as the Houthis, OFAC has been targeting crypto wallets that have facilitated the financing of terrorists for many years. Prior crypto industry sanctions include Garantex, Suex, Hydra, Chatex, Bitpapa, and NetEx24. These crypto services aided the laundering of ransomware payments or enabled crypto transfers with sanctioned banks.

The eight wallets designated today were tether (USDT) wallets on the Tron blockchain.

USDT exists on over a dozen blockchains, but USDT-on-Tron specifically is the world’s most popular stablecoin by on-chain volume.

The full list of sanctioned wallets is:

* TR88AsuKY8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8R8