Those who dare to challenge the mighty Uncle Sam must expect a wave of retaliation, whether financial or military. Vladimir Putin, by deciding to annoy his protege, Ukraine, is going through hell. But for the moment, the Russian bear is still in good shape, information warfare requires. However, the local reality shows that the sanctions really had an impact. The Russians must find alternatives so as not to bear the brunt of them.
Russia, a model of adaptability against Western sanctions?
More than 10,000 sanctions have been issued against Russia since February 24, 2022, the day it decided to invade Ukraine. Among other things, we mentioned the withdrawal of several local banks from the SWIFT network. Or even the suspension of the activities of online payment giants such as PayPal, MasterCard or Visa.
Except that there is a parameter that handicaps NATO sanctions: bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Thanks to them, the Russians can find a way around them.
In an article published on February 26, bitcoin.com revealed the results ofinvestigation signed Inca Digital on the relationship maintained by the Russians with cryptos. According to this study, Russian traders continue to use major crypto exchanges to circumvent sanctions. And they are very fond of Tether (USDT).
The most popular exchanges, which tried to impose measures vis-à-vis Russian customers, were ultimately unable to prevent local banks from operating through their platform. These are Huobi and Kucoin, both based in the Seychelles.
For Adam Zarazinski, the two crypto exchanges are committing a “ direct violation of US and EU sanctions with a small loophole “. The fact that they accept funds from blacklisted banks and allow cryptocurrency exchanges to sanctioned institutions worries this CEO of Inca.
Binance and many more exchanges
Inca’s survey also showed that nearly 80 crypto trading platforms, DEXs and CEXs and P2P and OTC (over the counter) service providers allow the conversion of rubles into cryptocurrencies. Whether they are very strict with KYC type checks or not.
Binance, which would be the next target of financial regulators, and Bybit are among them.
Chagri Poyraz, Global Head of Sanctions at Binance, clarified that Binance presents itself as “ a full-KYC platform and was the first major exchange to implement EU cryptocurrency sanctions “. Gary Gensler must be all ears.
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