The Russia-Ukraine crisis continues. Blockchain surveillance firms have been discussing and implementing ways to stop sanctioned countries using digital assets. Chainalysis released screening tools last week for cryptocurrency firms that seek to comply with international sanction. On Monday, the CEO of Elliptic published a blog post describing the company’s work to combat sanction evasion.
Elliptic CEO Speaks on the Company’s ‘Work to Combat Sanction Evasions in Crypto’
Simone Maini is the Chief Executive Officer of Elliptic’s Blockchain Surveillance Firm. He published this week a blog about how Elliptic deals with sanctions evasions tied to cryptocurrency assets. Maini’s blog post stresses that “the war in Ukraine has demonstrated that powerful technologies such as cryptocurrency can be used in both positive and negative ways.”
Elliptic’s CEO explains how money was raised to support the Ukrainian government as well as other NGOs based in Ukraine. On the other hand, Maini’s blog post notes that digital assets have been used by Russian-backed forces. Elliptic executives add:
Russia could also use crypto assets to bypass sanctions via state-sponsored cybercrime and concealment of wealth.
Maini explains that Elliptic has “redoubled” its efforts to help the fintech industry “prevent sanctions evasion by Russia.” So far, Elliptic has managed to identify over 400 virtual asset service providers (VASPs) that accept rubles for digital currency trades.
Elliptic ‘Links 15 Million Crypto Addresses’ to Russian Criminal Activity, ‘Several Hundred Thousand Crypto Addresses’ Linked to Sanctioned Russian Actors
Moreover, the firm has “directly linked more than 15 million crypto addresses to criminal activity with a nexus in Russia.” On top of all that, Elliptic has managed to flag a great number of cryptocurrency addresses that are allegedly tied to sanctioned Russians. Elliptic CEO says:
We’ve identified hundreds of thousands of crypto addresses connected to Russia-based sanctioned agents. We have also identified other addresses linked to Russia-based sanctioned actors via our analysis.
At the time of writing, the Russian ruble is the 23rd most-used trading pair against the crypto asset bitcoin (BTC), but against tether (USDT), the ruble represents USDT’s 15th most-used trading pair. Chainalysis announced that Elliptic and two other tools were being developed by the blockchain surveillance firm to aid crypto companies against sanction evading organizations five days ago.
Blockchain Surveillance Firm Is ‘Actively Investigating Crypto Asset Wallets’
In a blog post, Coinbase, a popular cryptocurrency exchange, revealed that it has blacklisted over 25,000 addresses linked to Russian entities and individuals. Elliptic’s announcement stemming from the CEO’s blog post on Monday, highlights that not only did the company flag several hundred thousand crypto addresses, it is also monitoring crypto asset wallets.
“We are actively investigating crypto asset wallets believed to be linked to Russian officials and oligarchs subject to sanctions,” Elliptic’s CEO Maini concluded. “We are collaborating with government agencies and other organizations to ensure that those responsible for enabling the invasion of Ukraine cannot use crypto assets to hide their wealth.”
What do you think about the Elliptic CEO’s blog post about the company flagging several hundred thousand crypto addresses tied to Russia-based sanctioned actors? Please comment below to let us know your thoughts on this topic.
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