Sanction News

As sanctions bite, Bank of Russia’s Nabiullina calls for faster adoption of crypto laws that would enable international transactions in crypto and digital financial assets. Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina has urged Russian lawmakers to fasten the approval of…

The U.S. Treasury is pushing for more authority to tackle the growing misuse of crypto by Iran, Russia, and North Korea. According to a report from Bloomberg, Deputy Secretary Adewale Adeyemo emphasized in written testimony ahead of a Senate hearing…

Data revealed by analysts at blockchain forensics firm TRM Labs shows that TRON hosted 45% of all illicit volume in 2023. The so-called “dirty crypto” appears to be highly centered on the TRON blockchain network, founded by Chinese entrepreneur Justin…

OFAC designated social media news outlet Gaza Now and its founder Mustafa Ayash for crypto fundraising efforts aimed at supporting Hamas. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) alongside the U.K.’s Office of Foreign Sanctions…

Treasury Department has sanctioned Russian providers of digital financial assets, saying many of the designated entities offered services that helped evade sanctions. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned 13 entities and two…

OFAC has sanctioned two Russians involved in a pro-Kremlin influence campaign, while Chainalysis found that at least one of them received funds from crypto exchange Garantex. The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions…

A Guardian and International Consortium of Investigative Journalists investigation reveals a link between Copper and Jonatan Zimenkov, a Russian national sanctioned by the U.S. A recent investigation co-done by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Guardian reveals…

BitRiver, a Bitcoin mining company targeted by OFAC sanctions, is set to launch Russia’s largest data center for artificial intelligence (AI) in H2 2024. Bitriver-B, a subsidiary of BitRiver Group, is set to launch the largest data center for energy-intensive…

The U.S. Treasury sanctioned entities for illegally exporting technology to Iran, including one that developed Iran’s central bank digital currency platform. The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a press release that on Feb.…

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has implemented a fifth set of sanctions on Hamas since the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. In a press release on Jan. 22, the U.S. Treasury Department…

Ex-CIA contractor and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has urged to support the legal defense fund for the Tornado Cash developer. In an X post on Jan. 23, Edward Snowden called for support for the legal defense fund of Roman Storm,…

Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal slammed the U.S. GAO’s crypto report as ‘shoddy work,’ accusing it of sensationalizing crypto’s role in sanctions evasion. Coinbase‘s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal has publicly criticized the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recent crypto report,…

Illicit cryptocurrency addresses received $24.2 billion in 2023, showing a decrease from the estimated $39.6 billion in 2022, as per Chainalysis. In 2023, the value received by illicit crypto totaled $24.2 billion representing nearly a 39% decrease from the 2022…

Notorious crypto mixing service Tornado Cash laundered more than half a billion worth of crypto in 2023. Although the U.S. imposed sanctions against Tornado Cash in late 2022, the mixing service is still helping criminals launder hundreds of millions worth…

Russia is betting big on crypto, aiming to legalize cross-border transactions in digital currencies by the second half of 2024. In a statement to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the State Duma’s Financial Market Committee, supported…

A sanctioned Russian banker sold $19m worth of shares in Copper, a crypto custodian linked to ex-U.K. Chancellor Philip Hammond. As reported by The Guardian, Russian-sanctioned banker Mikhail Klyukin has sold over £15 million (around $19 million) worth of shares…