The Treasury Department has already identified Russian entities attemptin Russia-based Darknet Market Hydra and Garantex, a virtual currency exchange, were also sanctioned that month partly to cut off avenues for potential sanctions evasion. But Russia had developed its own digital currency as early as February in hopes of trading directly with countries that will accept the funds without first converting to dollars. Warren mentioned that Coinbase, a leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange platform, filed a lawsuit this month against the Treasury Department on behalf of Tornado Cash users. Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, told CNBC the sanctions set “a dangerous precedent,” but Rosenberg called them effective. “When they can serve as a deterrent to any criminal (who) would seek to use a mixer in order to launder their funds, the proceeds of corruption or any criminal activity, that’s an effective avenue that we can use in order to signal that we cannot tolerate money laundering,” Rosenberg said.
Treasury Warns That Putin Could Use Cryptos to Dodge Sanctions
g to circumvent sanctions with crypto. Twenty-two individuals and two entities, including a neo-Nazi paramilitary group, were designated this month for helping Russia digitally finance the war on Ukraine.
