Ukraine’s financial watchdog has restricted access to many online crypto exchanges operating from Russia. Some of the coin trading platforms are linked to sanctioned Russian banks, the regulator said in a report.
Ukrainian Financial Authorities Target Russian Crypto Exchange Websites and Wallets
Ukraine’s financial intelligence agency, the State Financial Monitoring Service (SFMS), published a specialreporton the results of its operations in 2022. In addition to its peacetime activities, such as anti-money laundering, the report revealed that the SFMS contributed to the country’s defense efforts amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.
In documents released this week, the watchdog announced that its employees had joined forces with colleagues from the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Ukraine’s leading cryptography experts. Together, they were able to identify Russian crypto exchanges related to sanctioned Russian financial institutions, including Russia’s largest bank, Sber.
The Ukrainian financial regulator did not specify the exact number or domain names of these platforms, but stressed that the goal was to block them altogether.
Also, in close cooperation with Ukrainian and foreign crypto service providers, the SFMS introduced a mechanism for “blocking crypto wallets in the Russian Federation.” It is unclear whether that means Russian wallets in general or those linked to the government in Moscow.
The State Service recalled that last year it turned to Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and proposed actions to “curb the aggression of the Russian Federation in the virtual assets market” and prevent peer-to-peer transactions for users of various Russian banks and payment systems.
“Other practical measures related to the blocking of Russian crypto assets and operations of Russian residents were implemented.” The agency added without elaborating. It has worked with financial authorities in almost 140 countries on this issue while cutting ties with regulators in Russia and Belarus.
Ukraine is involved in a regional initiative to prevent money laundering through crypto
The SFMS is also focused on reducing money laundering through digital assets in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova (where the crypto market and mining sector is steadily countries with a steadily growing crypto market and mining sector) focused on reducing money laundering through digital assets. This project is being realized with the support of the UN and the OSCE.
The report, along with a statement by Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, promised that if the country finalizes a regulatory framework for the industry, it will become “the best crypto jurisdiction in the world.”
Over the past few years, Ukraine has established itself as a leader in crypto adoption in Eastern Europe and has accepted crypto donations since the Russian invasion began. Its parliament passed a law “on virtual assets” last February and is preparing respective amendments to the tax code.
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