The United States and Great Britain are checking cryptocurrency transactions amounting to more than $20 billion that passed through the Russian crypto exchange. This is reported by Bloomberg.
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It is noted that payments were made through the Moscow cryptocurrency exchange Garantex using the Tether cryptocurrency, pegged to the dollar.
The retellings took place after Garantex came under US and UK sanctions on suspicion of facilitating financial crimes and illegal transactions in Russia.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has been trying to squeeze out crypto exchanges like Garantex since the early days of the war. Transactions worth $20 billion would represent one of the largest violations of sanctions imposed on Russia.
Sources of the publication said that investigations are ongoing and it is too early to foresee their conclusions, given the complexity and opacity of cryptocurrency transactions.
Garantex
Earlier this month, crypto exchange Garantex said it was committed to preventing the exchange from being used for illegal activities, and actively cooperated with European and US authorities until sanctions were applied against it.
The company also added that the crypto exchange still cooperates with other international law enforcement agencies and tries to avoid facilitating criminal activity.
Garantex was founded in 2019 in Estonia, although the US government has said most of its operations are now based in Moscow. Estonia lost its license to operate in the country in February 2022 as a result of coordinated efforts with the United States.
The US Treasury Department accused Garantex of ignoring its obligations to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, while simultaneously announcing sanctions against the company in April 2022.
The US linked Garantex to transactions involving illegal activities amounting to over $100 million. including with the participation of a Russian hacker group at the request of Conti.
Tether is used by scammers
On its website, Garantex reports that it allows withdrawal of funds through cards of Russian banks – Sberbank, Tinkoff Bank and Alfa Bank, which are subject to US sanctions.
The anonymity, speed and stability of Tether have made the currency popular among criminals.< /p>
Tether was the most commonly used stablecoin for criminal activity in cryptocurrencies last year.
According to an analysis by TRM Labs, Tether was linked to $19.3 billion in illegal transactions in 2023, compared to $24.7 billion last year.
What they say at Tether Holdings
Tether Holdings denies facilitating crimes and says it is cooperating with law enforcement agencies. Earlier this month, the company announced that it had frozen $1.4 million in Tether.
“With Tether, every action takes place on the Internet, every transaction is tracked, every asset can be confiscated, and every criminal can be caught. We are working with law enforcement to do just that,” the company said in a statement.