© Reuters.
Investing.com – Cryptocurrencies have often been cited as a potential way for Russia to circumvent international sanctions put in place following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
However, Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, on the contrary considered yesterday that cryptocurrencies are far from the best way to circumvent international sanctions for Russia.
During a Thursday hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich asked the FBI Director if Russia could respond to the economic impact of the United States’ ban on imports of and gas from the country using gold reserves, Chinese currency or cryptocurrencies.
Director Wray said the FBI and its partners had “accumulated significant expertise” on cryptocurrencies, citing the department’s recent work in seizing large amounts of crypto as evidence that there were vulnerabilities in the use of cryptocurrency. crypto to circumvent sanctions.
“The Russians’ ability to circumvent sanctions with cryptocurrencies is probably highly overrated by perhaps them and others,” Wray said.
“We are, as a community and with our partners overseas, much more effective at this than they sometimes appreciate, I think, and there is a lot of expertise in terms of tools and strategies to help block that kind of effort. At the end of the day, what they really need to do is gain access to some form of fiat currency, which becomes more difficult.”
Recall that following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, the United States and the governments of the European Union announced sanctions aimed at financially harming the country.
Many agencies and services, including the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the European Commission, have said they will look into the possibility of Russia using cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions. US President Joe Biden also signed an executive order on Wednesday to create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies that also addresses this issue.
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