The US and the UK are probing Garantex, a Russian crypto exchange after it facilitated $20bn worth of tether transfers.
Officials from both countries are said to be interested in the USDT transactions that occurred on the platform after it was sanctioned by the US Department of Treasury in April 2022.
According to Bitcoin News, the $20bn worth of tether transactions represented the highest breach of sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The transfers also highlight the difficulty in restricting money from flowing into Russia after it has been sanctioned by Western forces.
Digital currencies and crude oil sales are believed to be the largest source of foreign exchange for Russia. The Russian government has managed to keep the country’s economy afloat despite the sanctions through these two major sources of foreign exchange.
The Biden administration has chosen to focus more on digital currency transactions and issuers like Tether after its attempts to sanction Russia properly have failed to affect the Russian economy significantly.
Ongoing investigations and scrutiny by the US and UK authorities have not found any wrongdoing by Tether yet. The stablecoin issuer has said that it is cooperating with authorities by freezing Assets belonging to sanctioned entities.
Garantex crypto exchange in response has said that it is fully committed to working with international regulators and it painstakingly puts in effort to rid its platform of criminal entities.
However, Garantex as quoted on its website has stated that it would continue to work with sanctioned Russian Banks.
What To Know
- US and UK authorities intensified their pressure on Garantex after a senior executive from the country discussed about using Cryptocurrency to gain foreign exchange.
- Bitpapa a fledgling Peer-to-peer crypto exchange has also been sanctioned by US and UK authorities after it is believed to be connected to Garantex.