The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on Behrouz Parsarad, an Iranian citizen accused of administering the now-repeated Nemesis Darknet Market.

As a part of the motion, authorities have blacklisted 49 Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR).

The Bureau of Overseas Belongings Management (OFAC) introduced sanctions on March 4, saying the transfer was a part of a global operation to dismantle its nemesis in early 2024.

In the meantime, sanctions in opposition to Persalad are a part of OFAC’s ongoing efforts to dismantle unlawful on-line markets. Specifically, the company beforehand authorized the Hydra market in April 2022, with German authorities confiscating about 23 million euros price of Bitcoin from the platform.

Nemesis’s punishment

Based on OFAC, Parsarad is cashing in on Nemesis by charging customers’ transaction charges, and has reportedly collected tens of millions available in the market’s lifespan.

Nemesis acted as a hub for cybercriminals and drug traffickers, permitting the sale of unlawful substances and providers. The built-in cash laundering characteristic within the platform allowed customers to cover their monetary actions.

Authorities estimate that between 2021 and 2024, Nemesis promoted greater than $30 million in drug gross sales. The market additionally supplied extra unlawful providers, together with counterfeit identification paperwork {and professional} hacking providers. Customers can even rent hackers to compromise on-line accounts and steal delicate knowledge.

Regardless of Nemesis’ Shutdown, stories say Parsarad is already starting to debate launching a brand new Darknet Market with distributors.

On-Chain Actions in Parasad

A blockchain investigation by ChainAlys revealed that Parsarad has poured over $12,000 into different DarkNet marketplaces, together with ASAP, Incognito and Subsequent Technology.

The corporate additionally famous that his Bitcoin pockets obtained greater than $850,000 from addresses associated to unlawful transactions.

In the meantime, in keeping with data on the chain, he’ll transfer greater than $1.6 million in crypto, with analysts suggesting that they make the most of Bitcoin value fluctuations to develop their holdings.

Chain Orisis additional inspired that whereas Persalad had no direct on-chain hyperlinks to Iranian monetary providers, there was a serious publicity to the darknet market and an oblique connection to crypto mixers.

Based on the corporate, Persalad deliberately obscures his unlawful actions to keep away from detection on account of Iran’s extreme penalties for drug-related crimes, together with the dying penalty.