US prosecutors are going after crypto sanctions evasion
Crypto has come to the forefront as a way to circumvent barriers in international commerce, particularly following Russias invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. (This practice can be complicated by virtual currencys extreme volatility.) Some individual Russians turned to crypto after their financial ties to the outside world were cut off.
But Faruquis opinion seeks to throw cold water on criminal use of it. Issue One: virtual currency is untraceable? WRONG, he writes in a conclusion. Issue Two: sanctions do not apply to virtual currency? WRONG.
The US Department of Justice is prosecuting the operator of a payment platform that flouted economic sanctions using cryptocurrency. As reported by The Washington Post, its possibly the first criminal prosecution of crypto-related sanctions evasion underscoring both the technologys potential for getting around financial blocks and its traceability by law enforcement.
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