Public figures in the US and Europe have spoken with growing alarm about the threat of Russian sanctions evasion via crypto. As it stands, those fears remain unsubstantiated.
The US, EU, UK, and the rest of the G7 nations have imposed crushing sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Amid the activity, a flurry of reports as to the risk of Russia using cryptocurrencies to evade those sanctions has emerged from major news outlets. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Politico were among many to join the chorus, with sensational titles like “Russia’s hidden tool to undermine sanctions.”
The past several days have seen that reporting translated into political discourse presenting a tough front on crypto.
On February 28, Senators Elizabeth Warren retweeted the NYT report, saying “U.S. financial regulators need to take this threat seriously and increase their scrutiny of digital assets.” Two days later, Warren’s office published a letter co-signed by three other democrats of the Senate Banking Committee asking the Treasury to account…
