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Independent Senator Angus King and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren have expressed concerns to the Biden administration regarding Russia, North Korea, and Iran’s utilization of cryptocurrency mining as a means to circumvent strict US sanctions. 

In a letter sent to President Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan the senators said, “We write with heightened concerns about rogue nations’—including Russia, Iran, and North Korea—reliance on cryptocurrency to evade sanctions. The national security threat posed by cryptocurrency requires a commensurate response by our country’s defense community. We seek information on the additional authorities you may need in order to neutralize this threat.” 

The lawmakers referenced the cryptocurrency “Tether” and said it “has become indispensable to Vladimir Putin’s war machine.” According to the senators, the United States and the United Kingdom are reviewing more than $20 billion of cryptocurrency transactions passed through Tether. During 2023, Tether transactions totaled over $10 trillion—close to what Visa processes annually.

Accusations against Iran, North Korea, & Russia:
Iran:
In their letter, the lawmakers claimed that Iran “has raised millions of dollars through mining crypto—a steady revenue source that allows it to purchase imports, move funds domestically and internationally, and fund Hamas and other terrorist organizations. This ongoing activity by the Iranian government threatens our national security.” They added, “Iran is using cryptocurrency to fund terrorist organizations like Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad.18 One estimate indicates that Iranian Bitcoin mining could have produced as much as $1 billion in revenue in 2021.”

North Korea:
The lawmakers claimed, “North Korea has also relied on crypto to fund their nuclear weapons program, stealing $1.7 billion in 2022 alone–enough to have funded 56 intercontinental ballistic missile tests if all of that stolen crypto were funneled into their weapons program.”

Russia:
The lawmakers said, “Russian arms smugglers are paying China millions to produce high-tech weaponry and sustain their invasion of Ukraine, using crypto to side-step our financial sanctions on Russia.” They continued, “Russia continues to undermine these sanctions and use crypto to fund its Ukrainian offensive.”