The US Treasury Department announced that it imposed sanctions on BitRiver, a cryptocurrency mining company, which is one of the largest data center service providers in the sphere, over its operations in Russia.
According to Bloomberg, the measure comes one day after the International Monetary Fund warned in a report that crypto mining could be used to bypass sanctions imposed on countries like Russia and Iran. “By operating vast server farms that sell virtual currency mining capacity internationally, these companies help Russia monetize its natural resources. However, mining companies rely on imported computer equipment and fiat payments, which makes them vulnerable to sanctions,” the Treasury noted.
Bitcoin miners across the world, including those in Eastern Europe and Russia, turn to the Swiss company for energy sources, mining facilities and large-scale management solutions. Since Beijing’s crypto mining ban in May, these regions have been one of the most popular destinations for miners forced out of China.
As of press time, BitRiver has not issued a statement addressing the sanctions imposed by the US government.
Japan Sanctions on Russia
Japan announced in March that its Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act would be amended to make cryptocurrency exchanges subject to stricter rules. Japan will introduce a bill to revise the existing laws on the subject, Hokazu Matsuno, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, announced.
The manoeuvre is intended to crack down on any loophole that allows sanctioned countries like Russia to evade sanctions through cryptos. The revision “presumably enables the government to apply the law to crypto-asset exchanges like banks and oblige them to scrutinize whether their clients are Russian sanction targets,” Saisuke Sakai, a Senior Economist at Mizuho Research and Technologies, told Reuters.
The invasion of Ukraine has led to financial sanctions being imposed by Japan against Russia. In fact, the country issued an act to ask almost 30 crypto exchanges to ban transactions from sanctioned countries.
