The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned crypto wallets allegedly connected to individuals and companies involved in the production of fentanyl. The U.S. Justice Department announced indictments against several China-based chemical manufacturers and their employees, who allegedly used crypto transactions to conceal their identities and the movement of their funds. OFAC added wallets for Bitcoin, Ether, USD Coin, Tether, and Tron connected to Chinese nationals and Valerian Labs to its list of Specially Designated Nationals.Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo stated that the enforcement action was aimed at disrupting an illicit drug network, and that the blocked wallets received millions of USD funds over hundreds of deposits. Lawmakers have urged action on cracking down on the distribution of fentanyl in the United States, where the drug was estimated to be responsible for more than 67,000 deaths in 2021.The 10th year in prison for Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the online marketplace Silk Road, was also marked in October. Ulbricht has his supporters in the crypto space, despite the platform facilitating the drug trade by allowing payments with digital assets. US enforcement agencies are turning up the heat on crypto-related crime.

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Information	Details
Geography	North America
Countries	🇺🇸 🇨🇳
Sentiment	negative
Relevance Score	8
People	Elizabeth Warren, Ross Ulbricht, Wally Adeyemo
Companies	U.S. Justice Department, Treasury Department, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Hanhong Pharmaceutical Technology, Hebei Crovell Biotech.
Currencies	TRON, US Dollar, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Tether
Securities	None