The United States and European Union have announced new actions targeting Russia’s economy and wealthy individuals as a report suggests Vladimir Putin’s allies have attempted to circumvent sanctions using cryptocurrency in foreign countries. In a Friday announcement, the White House said leadership from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union will take additional actions aimed at economically isolating Russia in response to President Vladmir Putin’s military invasion of Ukraine. The announcement includes banning imports of many Russian goods, banning the export of luxury goods to Russia, and guidance for the U.S. Treasury …

Whose side are you on? The Ukraine-Russia war is forcing people to answer that question. For some in the crypto community, this can be uncomfortable because if an individual or project stands with the West against Russia, it also means it abides by sanctions. This can be tough to square with crypto/blockchain’s supposed decentralized system and its claims on being borderless, censorship-free and distributed. Take OpenSea, the NFT marketplace, which really isn’t a decentralized project but is often described as such. “OpenSea is a decentralized peer-to-peer marketplace for buying, selling and trading rare digital goods,” according to CoinMarketCap, for instance. …

Amid global businesses boycotting the Russian residents over military conflict in Ukraine, some companies in the cryptocurrency industry stand up for the rights of non-sanctioned Russian citizens. Bitfinex, an affiliate firm of the world’s largest stablecoin provider, Tether (USDT), will not unilaterally freeze the accounts of ordinary Russian customers as part of the global sanctions unless it's forced to do so, a spokesperson for Bitfinex told Cointelegraph on Thursday. The representative emphasized that Bitfinex has taken appropriate action against the accounts of Russian users who have been sanctioned. “As with all our customer accounts, we work to ensure that there …

Blockchain-data analysis firm Chainalysis has announced the fast-tracked launch of two primary ‘sanctions screening’ tools that it will provide free of charge to the cryptocurrency industry. According to the report provided by Chainalysis on March 10, the screening tools include two main components of new tracking software that will assist exchanges in screening wallets and transactions for activity that appears to be skirting economic sanctions. The first tool, which is immediately available, is an on-chain oracle. An on-chain oracle is a smart contract aimed more specifically at DeFi (decentralized finance) projects. It validates whether or not a cryptocurrency wallet address …

The market capitalization of gold-backed crypto tokens increased by 60% in 2022 to surpass $1 billion for the first time in history, according to Arcane Research in its latest weekly report. Gold shines, Bitcoin disappoints In 2022, investors have been rushing to the perceived safety of gold-backed crypto assets, whose value is pegged to the price of gold. Namely, PAX Gold (PAXG), Tether Gold (XAUT), and similar precious metal-backed digital assets have been climbing in value as investors "diversify inflation bets" within the crypto sector, explains Arcane Research. PAXG is also outperforming Bitcoin (BTC) this year, as shown in the …

On Wednesday, total crypto donations across Ukrainian government wallet addresses, charities, and relief efforts tracked by Cointelegraph has reached $108 million. The top three recipients of such funds included the official Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum(ETH) wallet addresses of the Ukrainian government, and a BTC donations address for Come Back Alive. The same day, Kraken announced that it would distribute over $10 million to clients who created an account from Ukraine before Mar 9 for relief efforts. Regardless of their account balance held, Ukrainian clients of Kraken would receive $1,000 in BTC each during the first trach of fund disbursement, which …

Bitbull Capital CEO, Joe DiPasquale, thinks Bitcoin (BTC) is still on track to reach $100K within the next 24 months despite the bearish sentiment dominating the crypto markets since the start of the year. “I think 2023 is a safe bet. We might need some time during 2022 to take a breath and to kind of let out some of the steam,” DiPasquale said. “We are reaching higher lows and even higher highs”, he added, commenting on Bitcoin’s price movement in the last few months. Following the breakout of a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Bitcoin has shown mixed …

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren is preparing a bill to crack down on the use of crypto as a way to avoid economic sanctions. Warren’s latest anti-crypto move comes alongside a push from the U.S. government to stamp out the possibility of Russia using crypto to skirt a host of economic sanctions placed on the nation. According to a March. 8 report from NBC News, one of the provisions of Warren’s new crypto bill — which is still in draft form — will require local crypto exchanges to submit “detailed records” to the Treasury Department of customers' identities and transfers to …

Another big drop in the U.S. stock market could leave Ethereum's native token Ether (ETH) in a similar downside spell, according to the latest Bloomberg report on digital assets. Ethereum faces global recession risks Mike McGlone, the senior commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, anticipates U.S. equities to face downside pressure against the prospects of the ongoing energy-price spikes and their ability to invoke a 2008-like global market recession "The war in Ukraine and spiking crude make a potent combination for a global recession," wrote McGlone in the report, adding that top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether could also face initial …

A war rages on Europe’s eastern rim, having already left thousands of people dead and injured and millions more displaced. Digital assets have become so woven into the global financial system that a major political and economic crisis like the one unfolding right now has crypto inevitably involved on all levels: individual, institutional and national. From Russian nationals turning their burning passports into nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to refugees using crypto as a last financial resort, millions of dollars worth of crypto donations flowing to Ukraine, and both digital asset platforms and the United States government weighing crypto sanctions against Russia, …

The United States-based crypto exchange Coinbase has proposed the use of cryptocurrencies to help ensure compliance with economic sanctions. The recommendation comes along with highlighting the ease of laundering and sanction evasion of fiat currencies made possible by traditional financial infrastructures. Written by Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, the blog talks about the growing range of global sanctions put forth amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The crypto exchange supported the government’s decision to impose sanctions on individuals and territories, highlighting its importance in “promoting national security and deterring unlawful aggression.” https://t.co/h08YXYgAoM Sanctions play a vital role in promoting national security …

Recently, Ukraine has called for "sabotage" of everyday Russians' crypto assets due to an ongoing war between the two countries. Among many, its European allies have also voiced mounting concerns that Russia may use crypto to bypass Western sanctions. But ironically, it appears that one of the greatest proponents of barring everyday Russians and financial institutions from accessing cryptocurrencies is actually the Central Bank of Russia, or CBR, itself. As reported by local news outlet tass.ru on Thursday, the CBR continues to adhere to its position of proposing to ban the issuance, mining, and circulation of cryptocurrencies in the Russian …