The US Treasury wants to introduce secondary sanctions against crypto exchanges – Kommersant

The US Treasury appealed to the Senate with a request to expand the authority of the department to impose secondary sanctions against foreign participants in the crypto market, including crypto exchanges, writes Bloomberg with a link to the document. The deputy head of the department points out that operations with cryptocurrency are increasingly being used by radical Islamic militants, as well as North Korea and Russia.

“Our problem is that criminals are increasingly finding ways to hide their identities and move resources using virtual currency,” Treasury Department Undersecretary Wally Adeyemo said in a speech ahead of a Senate hearing scheduled for April 9.

The Treasury Department is asking to be allowed to impose secondary sanctions against key players in the digital asset market and foreign crypto exchanges if they harm US national security. A representative of the US Treasury believes that the ability to introduce secondary sanctions against crypto exchanges will make it possible to more effectively combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The US Treasury indicates that virtual currencies have become “insensitive” to traditional control tools that apply to bank payments.

On March 26, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions against 13 companies for using cryptocurrencies when interacting with sanctioned legal entities from Russia. In February, relatives of victims of the Hamas attack on Israel and prisoners captured by the militants submitted to court against the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. They believe that the site helped finance the group.

Anastasia Larina