The United States Treasury Department has issued rules for cryptocurrency holders not to violate anti-Russian sanctions. They concern individuals and legal entities, but also, for example, operators of cryptocurrency exchanges.
As of Friday, new rules are in effect in the United States regarding the handling of cryptocurrencies. Their aim is not only to make financial institutions aware of the conditions related to the imposition of anti-Russian sanctions. According to the U.S. Treasury, all U.S. holders of cryptocurrencies, including, for example, operators of cryptocurrency exchanges, are prohibited from engaging in any way in transactions involving sanctioned individuals or entities. These include, in particular, top Russian politicians (including members of the State Duma) and oligarchs.
U.S. individuals and legal entities are also prohibited from using cryptocurrencies to engage in financial transactions involving Russia’s most important institutions, such as the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Investment Fund of the Russian Federation, or the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The US authorities are apparently reacting to the efforts of the richest Russians to transfer their wealth from cryptocurrencies to assets in, for example, the United Arab Emirates, as reported by Reuters.
