Bangladesh, Nov. 6 -- The United States has tightened the financial noose around North Koreas clandestine cyber operations, sanctioning a network of bankers, front companies, and IT professionals accused of laundering billions of dollars in stolen cryptocurrency to fund the regimes weapons programs. The US Treasury Department announced on November 4 that it had blacklisted eight individuals and two entities allegedly linked to Pyongyangs sophisticated cyber theft and money-laundering ecosystem, which Washington estimates has generated more than $3 billion in illicit crypto assets over the past three years.

The sanctions target key figures and entities believed to serve as financial enablers of North Koreas military ambitions. Among those...