The U.S. Treasury Department and White House have reportedly warned U.S. companies and individuals not to facilitate crypto transactions sent to certain Russian citizens and banks.
U.S. residents are barred from using digital currencies to benefit the Russian government — including the country’s central bank — in order to circumvent U.S. sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations, set to go into effect on March 1. sanctions. The guidelines equate crypto transactions with "deceptive or structured transactions" that attempt to circumvent sanctions.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the department's actions aimed to "significantly limit Russia's ability to use assets to fund its destabilizing activities and target the funds that Putin and his inner circle rely on to invade Ukraine." The officials said. The additional actions against Russian entities were authorized under Executive Order 14024, which allows the Treasury Department to impose sanctions based on "harmful foreign activities, including violations of generally accepted principles of international law," the statement said.
Today, the United States and our allies and partners are preventing Putin from getting his war money to cushion the blow from our sanctions and fund his invasion of Ukraine. https://t.co/NtWvxpR28Z
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 28, 2022
On February 24, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. and its allies will impose sanctions on five major Russian banks and several elite nationals who have "enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian state." As the invasion of Ukraine continues, officials appear to be looking for more ways to financially deter the Russian government, with the European Commission saying on Sunday that it plans to move the country's sanctioned banks from the SWIFT cross-border payments network. remove.
While cryptocurrencies have been cited as a possible means for Russia to evade sanctions, at least one Treasury official has reportedly suggested that digital currencies are unlikely to disrupt international efforts. According to a report by Politico on Friday, Todd Conklin, an adviser to the deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury, said that if the Kremlin laundered large amounts of cryptocurrencies through exchanges, the market would see a “bigger surge” than it is currently doing. However, after Conklin's statement, the price of Bitcoin did increase by 11% in the past 24 hours, reaching $41,624.
The White House also asked crypto exchanges to prevent Russian individuals and businesses sanctioned by the U.S. and its allies from using digital assets to circumvent those restrictions, according to a Bloomberg report on Monday. Cryptocurrencies are not a replacement for the U.S. dollar in Russia, but authorities will try to crack down on any misuse of digital assets to evade sanctions, officials reportedly said.
Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov has urged crypto exchanges to freeze the addresses of Russian users, Cointelegraph reported on Monday. However, Binance said it would not "unilaterally freeze the accounts of millions of innocent users," while Kraken added that the exchange would not act "without legal requirements."
Cointelegraph Chinese is a blockchain news information platform, and the information provided only represents the author's personal opinion, has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are requested to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise risk awareness.
Joy
