Crypto Industry Lobbies Against Bills Targeting Russian Oligarchs Evading Sanctions Using Cryptocurrency – Regulation Bitcoin News

Two bills that would have prohibited Russian oligarchs using cryptocurrency in order to circumvent sanctions are being opposed by the crypto industry. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, sanctions were imposed by the U.S. along with many other countries.

The Bills that Prevent Wealthy Russians from Using Crypto To Avoid Sanctions

CNBC last week reported that the Blockchain Association is lobbying U.S. legislators against two bills to stop Russian oligarchs using cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions.

The first is a House bill titled “Russian Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Act of 2022.” The other is a Senate bill sponsored by crypto skeptic Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) titled “Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act of 2022.”

They give the Biden government the power to ban U.S. crypto-exchanges from accepting payments from Russia. The bills allow U.S. authorities the power to approve foreign exchanges processing transactions by companies and people sanctioned from Russia.

This organization is home to more than 70 cryptocurrency platforms including AAVE Digital, Anchorage Digital and Bitdeer as well as Brevan Howard, Chainalysis and Circle Crypto.com.

This group is trying convince legislators that cryptocurrency isn’t being used to circumvent sanctions.

Curtis Kincaid, a spokesperson for Blockchain Association, explained that the organization is trying to convince lawmakers to “separate fact from fiction on the inability of Russia to transfer large sums of money via crypto transactions in order to evade sanctions,” the publication conveyed.

Jake Chervinsky (policy head of the association), commented on this:

These bills don’t target Russian oligarchs, who aren’t using (& can’t use) crypto to evade sanctions. They target upstanding US crypto companies for no apparent reason except Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s crusade against a technology she doesn’t understand.

Although some legislators are concerned about crypto being used to bypass sanctions, experts agree that it is an ineffective tool for evading sanctions. A U.S. Treasury official said in March: “We don’t see that crypto could be used in a large-scale way to evade sanctions.”

How do you feel about legislation that aims to prevent Russian oligarchs using crypto to avoid sanctions? Please leave your comments below.

Kevin Helms

Kevin, a student of Austrian Economics and a Bitcoin evangelist since 2011, was one of the first to discover Bitcoin. He is interested in Bitcoin security and open-source software, network effects, and the intersection of cryptography and economics.