A top-ranking U.S. official is issuing a warning to crypto exchange platforms that fail to comply with the sanctions placed on Russia.
In a new interview with CNBC, Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo says that while Russia hasn’t yet had much success evading sanctions, US officials are on the lookout for entities who attempt to aid the country in doing so.
“We’ve been paying a lot of attention to sanction evasion…Any company, country, individual who helps Russia evade our sanctions will be subject to our laws and be held accountable, including cryptocurrency companies.
We have not seen to date that Russia has been able to evade our sanctions in a meaningful way, but we know that they are attempting to do so and we know they are going to try and use every means possible, both cryptocurrencies but also shell companies and also any other means that they can find.”
Adeyemo issues a clear warning to crypto exchanges and other entities to think twice about assisting Russia in its “illegitimate war” in Ukraine.
“What we want to make very clear to crypto exchanges, to financial institutions, to individuals, to anyone who may be in a position to help Russia take advantage and evade our sanctions: we will hold you accountable.
We will come and we will find you, and we will ensure that Russia does not have the ability to get around sanctions that we have put in place in order to make it harder for them to prosecute the illegitimate war that they have in Ukraine.”
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