The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned three cryptocurrency exchanges for offering services used to evade economic restrictions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
This includes Bitpapa IC FZC LLC, Crypto Explorer DMCC (AWEX), and Obshchestvo S Ogranichennoy Otvetstvennostyu Tsentr Obrabotki Elektronnykh Platezhey (TOEP).
“Many of the individuals and entities designated today facilitated transactions or offered other services that helped OFAC-designated entities evade sanctions,” the Treasury said, adding the action seeks to “target companies servicing Russia’s core financial infrastructure and curtail Russia’s use of the international financial system to further its war against Ukraine.”
Also sanctioned is another virtual currency exchange run by TOEP that’s alleged to have enabled digital payments in rubles and virtual currencies to sanctioned entities such as Sberbank, Alfa-Bank, and Hydra Market.
The penalty list also features Moscow-based fintech companies such as B-Crypto, Masterchain and Laitkhaus, which have partnered with sanctioned Russian banks to issue, exchange, and transfer cryptocurrency assets.
“As the Kremlin seeks to leverage entities in the financial technology space, Treasury will continue to expose and disrupt the companies that seek to help sanctioned Russian financial institutions reconnect to the global financial system.”
Source: https://thehackernews.com/
