ECB President Warns Crypto Companies Against Helping Russians Avoid Sanctions

The President of the European Central Bank, who’s safe to describe as a cryptocurrency critic, asserted during today’s conference that the institution has noticed digital assets are being used by Russians to bypass the sanctions imposed by the West.

• Shortly after Russia launched its military operation against Ukraine, the EU and NATO started imposing countless sanctions on President Putin, the people around him, the nation’s infrastructure, and everything in between.
• With the cryptocurrency trading volume coming from Russia skyrocketing in the days after the war broke out, some watchdogs suggested that oligarchs are using such assets to bypass the sanctions.
• However, there’s little-to-no actual proof of this, and several cryptocurrency insiders outlined reasons why the market is already transparent enough not to allow such actions.
• Christine Lagarde, ECB’s current president, and famous crypto critic, though, still believes in the aforementioned narrative. During the most recent online meeting of the institution, she warned that companies facilitating the bypassing of sanctions will face enhanced scrutiny.

“We have taken steps to clearly signal to all those who are exchanging, transacting, offering services in relation to crypto assets that they are being accomplices to circumvent sanctions.” – she asserted.