US, UK probes $20 billion crypto flows linked to Russia
The United States and the United Kingdom are reportedly reviewing more than $20 billion worth of crypto-linked transactions that flowed through a Russia based virtual exchange. The investigation comes in as a part of efforts put in by both nations to combat sanctions evasion, which is believed to be supporting Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Russia under crypto probe
According to the report, the transactions that came under the probe were processed through Garantex using the dollar backed token Tether (USDT). However, these transfers happened after both nations sanctioned the Moscow-based crypto exchange over suspicions of helping in financial crimes.
Russia had faced several sanctions regime following its invasion of Ukraine. Despite this, Western countries are still grappling with the challenge of putting a stoppage on the Russian financial flows. It added that Russia is using different methods to avoid sanctions. This includes offshore oil transfers, technology exchanges happening with other countries, and usage of crypto transactions.
The report mentioned that the US Biden administration is targeting crypto exchanges like Garantex in its efforts to spoil illegal activities. It is important to note that this $20 billion worth of transactions under investigation depicts one of the biggest breaches of sanctions imposed.
Will it hurt the market?
This major development comes in when the global digital assets market is printing green indexes all over. The cumulative crypto market cap recorded a surge of around 2% in the last 24 hours. It now stands at around $2.66 trillion. Its 24 hour trading volume stands at around $112 billion.
Bitcoin, the biggest crypto, is on the rise, hitting back to back rallies. BTC price is now up by 67% in the last 60 days. It is trading at an average price of $71,108, at the press time. Bitcoin is holding a market cap of more than $1.4 trillion. This shows the popularity of the crypto in the world.
It is still crucial to check up on the complexity of digital asset transactions that are presenting challenges. As the investigation moves ahead, there is no such motion that shows wrongdoing by Tether Holdings.
Tether is the world’s most traded cryptocurrency with over $100 billion in circulation. It has already presented its commitment to compliance and cooperation with law enforcement. Tether had frozen assets associated with entities on the US sanctions list. However, it asserts that every transaction is traceable, allowing for the identification and of criminals.
