Thirteen Russian financial technology entities have been penalized by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets for offering virtual asset services helping Russian companies bypass sanctions, BleepingComputer reports.
Included in the sanctioned firms are cryptocurrency exchanges Bitpapa IC FZC LLC and Obshchestvo S Ogranichennoy Otvetstvennostyu Tsentr Obrabotki Elektronnykh Platezhey, or TOEP, both of which supported money laundering efforts by Hydra Market, which is the largest darknet marketplace worldwide, as well as Crypto Explorer, which was also operational in the United Arab Emirates. Such imposed sanctions include the freezing of all U.S. assets and interests of the organizations and blocked persons. "Russia is increasingly turning to alternative payment mechanisms to circumvent U.S. sanctions and continue to fund its war against Ukraine. As the Kremlin seeks to leverage entities in the financial technology space, Treasury will continue to expose and disrupt the companies that seek to help sanctioned Russian financial institutions reconnect to the global financial system," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson.
