Economic sanctions are being posted against the government of Russia in response to the act of invasion that the Russian government has managed to put upon Ukraine.
According to the best crypto news site, the situations between these two countries have not been quite ideal since Russia made the decision to declare war on Ukraine. Hence, different countries have shown their support to Ukraine and their contempt towards the actions made by Russia.
The Treasury Department of the US government created a few guidelines that would equate to different crypto transactions. These transactions would be structured or deceptive transactions or dealing in attempting to properly evade the sanctions made by the entire US government.
The White House as well as the Treasury Department of the US are basically warning different companies of the United States against the facilitation of crypto funds to Russia.
According to the statements made by the government of the US< individuals, as well as US Companies, are not to facilitate any transaction of crypto that is sent to the Russian banks and nationals of the country.
These rules and regulations have been set by the Office of the Foreign Assets Control that is situated in the Treasury Department of the United States. The rules should be effective from the 1st of March 2022.
The residents will not be allowed to make use of any particular digital currency that can be used in order to benefit the government of Russia. This also includes the central bank of the country. The rules have been created in order to circumvent the different US sanctions that have been made against Russia for the decision to invade Ukraine.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the department’s actions were aimed at “significantly limit[ing] Russia’s ability to use assets to finance its destabilizing activities, and target[ing] the funds Putin and his inner circle depend on to enable his invasion of Ukraine.”
Officials said the additional actions against Russian entities were authorized based on Executive Order 14024, which allows the Treasury Department to impose sanctions based on “harmful foreign activities, including violating well-established principles of international law.”
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New Regulations Announced on Crypto Transactions by the US Government
On the 24th of February, President Joe Biden announced the U.S. and its allies would impose sanctions on five major Russia-based banks as well as several elite nationals who have “enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian state.”
As the Ukraine invasion has continued and officials seem to be looking at additional ways to financially deter the Russian government, the European Commission said on Sunday it planned to remove the country’s sanctioned banks from the SWIFT cross-border payment network.
Though crypto is listed as one possible means for Russia to evade sanctions, at least one Treasury official reportedly implied digital currencies were unlikely to undermine international efforts.
According to a Friday report from Politico, counselor to the deputy Treasury secretary Todd Conklin said if the Kremlin were to launder large amounts of crypto through exchanges, the market would observe “a bit more of a spike” than has happened. However, following Conklin’s statement, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) did rise more than 11% in the last 24 hours to reach $41,624.
According to a Monday report from Bloomberg, the White House also requested crypto exchanges prevent Russian individuals and businesses sanctioned by the U.S. and its allies from using digital assets to circumvent these restrictions. Officials reportedly said cryptocurrencies were not a substitute for the U.S. dollar in Russia, but authorities would attempt to fight any misuse of digital assets to avoid sanctions.
According to the best crypto news site that reported on Monday that Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, urged crypto exchanges to block addresses of Russian users. However, Binance said it would not “unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts” while Kraken added the exchange would not act “without a legal requirement.”
