TechFlow news, on March 5, according to The Block, the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added 49 virtual currency addresses to its sanctions list, including 44 Bitcoin addresses and 5 Monero addresses. These addresses are controlled by Behrouz Parsarad, an Iranian national accused of being the administrator of the darknet marketplace Nemesis.
During its three years of operation, Nemesis had approximately 30,000 active users and facilitated nearly $30 million in drug transactions. OFAC estimates that Parsarad earned millions of dollars through transaction fees. The darknet platform offered drugs, personal identity data, counterfeit documents, ransomware, and cybercrime services.
The sanctions are linked to President Trump's executive order targeting the fentanyl trade. Although Nemesis has been shut down, Parsarad has not yet been arrested and is reportedly discussing with former suppliers plans to establish a new darknet marketplace.
