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According to German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, G7 and European Union finance ministers are working to ensure that Russia does not use cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions.
Not wanting to reveal any details, Lindner said the issue is under discussion. His country chairs the G-7, whose financial and central bankers held virtual meetings on Tuesday with Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko.
The problem is known and we are working on it,” Lindner said in an interview with Welt TV on Wednesday. — We are talking about the maximum isolation of Russia at all levels and the maximum ability to apply sanctions, including against crypto assets.
The measures already announced by the US and the EU are aimed at limiting Russia’s ability to do business in dollars and other international currencies. They include fines for the country’s major banks, as well as restrictions on Russian oligarchs.
In this regard, there have been concerns that cryptocurrency, which is an alternative to traditional financial systems, may act as a tool that wealthy Russians can use to circumvent these sanctions. Some crypto exchanges are based in jurisdictions that are not subject to sanctions, while others do not require client identification, which makes it difficult to impose restrictions.
Of course, P2P payments cannot be canceled or censored in any way, but fiat currencies passing through intermediaries can be monitored, frozen and blocked.
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