The European Union has officially announced that the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus apply to cryptocurrencies.
The EU leadership explains that cryptocurrencies are included in the category of “transferable securities”, therefore, they are clearly subject to sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus.
“Loans and credits can be provided by any means, including crypto-assets,” the EU said in a statement.
The EU also announced an expansion of existing financial restrictions on Belarus to reflect those already in place on Russia. These include restrictions on the provision of SWIFT services to three Belarusian banks and their subsidiaries, a ban on transactions with the Central Bank of Belarus, and a ban on the placement of securities in respect of shares of Belarusian state-owned enterprises on EU trading floors.
Recently, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren announced that she will introduce a bill to Congress blocking the ability to circumvent sanctions using cryptocurrencies. The Senator proposes requiring U.S. cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions to provide the U.S. Treasury Department with detailed information about customer identities and transfers of funds to private cryptocurrency wallets.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase this week blocked 25,000 addresses of users registered in Russia. Last week, the ministries of finance in Germany, the United States and other G7 countries announced that they were recording attempts to circumvent sanctions using cryptocurrencies.
