The United States imposes restrictions on Russian companies in the field of cryptocurrencies
The United States has added to the sanctions list two individuals and 18 legal entities operating in the financial services and technology sectors of the Russian Federation and helping the aggressor country evade sanctions.
This was reported by the US State Department.
Many of them offer services, in particular to financial institutions, or misuse virtual assets to evade restrictive measures.
Subscribe to our new telegram channel iPress | International Press in Ukrainian where we go a little beyond and show you more than on the website. Become a part of the smart community!
“Today’s actions reaffirm the G7’s commitment to limit Russia’s use of the international financial system to continue its war against Ukraine. It also demonstrates our ongoing efforts to identify companies that serve Russia’s core financial infrastructure. We will continue to take all necessary actions to hold accountable those who facilitate or profit from Russia’s illegal war,” the State Department said in a statement.
The list released by the U.S. Treasury included, in particular, the following:
- B-Crypto Joint Stock Company is a Moscow-based fintech company that cooperates with Rosbank;
- “Masterchain is a Moscow-based fintech company that has agreements to issue digital financial assets with VTB Bank and the Central Bank of Russia;
- “Laitkhaus is a company that has cooperated with Sberbank and VTB Bank in the issuance, exchange and transfer of digital financial assets;
- “Atomaiz is a registered operator of digital financial assets that tokenizes precious metals and diamonds for Russian companies and is a partner of Rosbank and Radcombank;
- Tokentrust Holdings Ltd. based in Cyprus and the majority shareholder of Atomaiz
- “Web3 Technologies and Web3 Integrator are Moscow-based technology companies that provide blockchain solutions and platforms for the Russian financial sector. Among the clients are Sberbank and Alfa-Bank;
- Igor Kaygorodov is the majority shareholder of Web3 Technologies and Web3 Integrator;
- “Electronic Payment Processing Center is a company that operates a virtual currency exchange that allows digital payments in rubles and virtual currencies for Alfa-Bank and Hydra Market;
- Timur Bukanov is the owner and director of the Electronic Payment Processing Center;
- Bitfingroup OÜ (Bitfingroup) is an Estonian company whose sole owner is Bukanov;
- Bitpapa IC FZK LLC (Bitpapa) is a company that manages peer-to-peer virtual currency exchange and offers services to Russian citizens. To date, it has completed transactions worth millions of dollars with Russian companies Hydra Market and Garantex;
- Crypto Explorer DMCC, under its brand name AWEX, operates a virtual currency exchange in Russia and the UAE that offers conversion between virtual currencies, rubles, and UAE dirhams. AWEX offers cash services at its offices in Moscow and Dubai and transfers funds to credit cards linked to Russian sanctioned banks;
- “Crypto Explorer is a Russian company that is solely owned by Crypto Explorer.
