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📝 Page Status: Draft — sourced but not yet reviewed

  • Status: draft
  • Sources: 1
  • Relationships: 4
  • Research debt items: 2

OFAC Designation of Blender.io (May 6, 2022)

Summary

On May 6, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that OFAC sanctioned virtual currency mixer Blender.io under Executive Order 13694, as amended — described by Treasury as the first sanctions action against a virtual currency mixer.

Verified Facts

  • Treasury announced on May 6, 2022, that OFAC sanctioned Blender.io, a virtual currency mixer operating on the Bitcoin blockchain.1
  • Treasury stated the action was the first time Treasury sanctioned a virtual currency mixer.1
  • Treasury stated Blender was designated pursuant to E.O. 13694, as amended, for materially assisting cyber-enabled activity posing a significant threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability, including significant misappropriation of funds.1
  • Treasury stated Blender processed over $20.5 million of illicit proceeds from the March 23, 2022 Lazarus Group heist of almost $620 million from a blockchain project linked to Axie Infinity, and that Blender had helped transfer more than $500 million worth of Bitcoin since 2017.1
  • Treasury stated that as a result of the action, property and interests in property of Blender.io in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons is blocked, and transactions by U.S. persons involving such property are prohibited unless authorized or exempt.1

Historical Context

Blender.io preceded the August 2022 Tornado Cash OFAC designation. Treasury’s Tornado Cash announcement expressly references the May 6, 2022 Blender designation.

This record documents an OFAC SDN designation of a mixer service under IEEPA-based executive-order authorities. It is an administrative sanctions action, not a judicial opinion on immutable smart contracts. Compare Van Loon v. Department of the Treasury for later litigation over Tornado Cash immutable contracts.

Relationships

  • EVENT-OFAC-BLENDER-2022 cites SRC-TREASURY-BLENDER-2022.
  • EVENT-OFAC-BLENDER-2022 related_to TOPIC-DEVELOPER-SOFTWARE-LIABILITY.
  • EVENT-OFAC-BLENDER-2022 related_to TOPIC-TORNADO-CASH.
  • EVENT-OFAC-BLENDER-2022 related_to STAT-IEEPA.

Sources

  1. SRC-TREASURY-BLENDER-2022: Treasury Issues First Sanctions on a Virtual Currency Mixer — Blender.io (May 6, 2022).

Research Debt

  • Add OFAC recent-actions entry and SDN identifier list as dedicated sources.
  • Document any later operator criminal cases tied to Blender/Sinbad with primary charging documents.

Document metadata

  • Event date: 2022-05-06
  • Last verified: 2026-07-23

  1. SRC-TREASURY-BLENDER-2022 — Treasury Issues First Sanctions on a Virtual Currency Mixer — Blender.io (May 6, 2022). Official government press release. ↩↩↩↩↩