Janet Yellen Says Treasury Will Monitor Crypto For Sanctions Evasion

Janet Yellen says Treasury will start monitoring crypto for sanctions evasion and suggested that the sector wasn’t one for Russia to use and evade sanctions so let’s read further in today’s latest crypto news.

A few Senate Democrats asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen how the department will make sure that crypto cannot be used to avoid sanctions like the case now with Russia. Janet Yellen says the treasury actively monitors the sanctions enforcement and she said that the US will monitor the entire situation more closely:

“We will continue to look at how the sanctions work and evaluate whether or not there are leakages, and we have the possibility to address them. I often hear cryptocurrency mentioned, and that is a channel to be watched. It’s not that that sector is completely one where things can be evaded.”

In the letter to Yellen, the Senate Democrats like Mark Warner, Jack reed and Elizabeth Warren stated:

“Strong enforcement of sanctions compliance in the cryptocurrency industry is critical given that digital assets, which allow entities to bypass the traditional financial system, may increasingly be used as a tool for sanctions evasion.”

1/ Russia can't & won't use crypto to evade sanctions.

Concerns about crypto's use for sanctions evasion are totally unfounded. They fundamentally misunderstand:

– how sanctions work
– how crypto markets work
– how Putin is actually trying to mitigate sanctions

I'll explain

— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) March 1, 2022

The letter went on to ask If the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign asset controls will work with the financial institutions and other countries to make sure that crypto is not used in a malicious way. However, exchanges and other companies operating within the US are already beholden to sanctions levied by the government. BitMex’s co-founders, for example, Benjamin Delo and Arthur Hayes pled guilty to violating the US Bank Secrecy Act and are now facing up to five years in prison and heavy fines. A press release from the US Attorney’s OFfice noted that BitMEX allegedly didn’t institute the needed AML measures and was a vehicle for sanctions violations.

Other exchanges attested that they are complying with the sanctions against Russia but they refused to block addresses of Russian users. A spokesperson for Binance said the exchange was taking the steps needed to ensure and take action against those that have sanctions levied against them while minimizing the impact for the innocent users:

“Should the international community widen those sanctions further, we will apply those aggressively as well.”

Coinbase also took plenty of actions to ensure compliance with the sanctions including screening sanction watchlists and blocking transactions to banned addresses that were identified by OFAC and others. Blockchain Association Head of Policy Jake Chervinsky also challenged the argument that Russia can bypass sanctions by using bitcoin and said:

 “US crypto companies offer a variety of services. Russia doesn’t get to use them anymore. That’s the sanction, just as with all US goods & services. Russia’s ability to use the underlying technology doesn’t let them ‘evade’ the sanction in any way.”

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• Source: https://www.dcforecasts.com/regulation/janet-yellen-says-treasury-will-monitor-crypto-for-sanctions-evasion/