The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) опубликовало instruction for representatives of the cryptocurrency industry on complying with American sanctions.
The document recommends using ‘geolocation tools’ to identify and block IP addresses from restricted jurisdictions.
Authorities include miners, technology companies, exchanges and traditional financial institutions that may have access to cryptocurrencies among those required to develop risk assessment programs.
“The obligation to comply with OFAC sanctions applies equally to transactions in virtual currencies and in traditional currencies […]. Participants in the virtual currency sector are responsible for ensuring that they do not directly or indirectly participate in transactions that fall under sanctions,” the guidance states.
The department separately reminded of administrative and criminal liability for non-compliance.
In September the U.S. Treasury included in the sanctions list the cryptocurrency exchange Suex with offices in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, as well as 25 addresses on the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether networks.
According to the agency, funds passing through the platform were those of operators of at least eight ransomware programs, scam projects, dark-net marketplaces and the now-defunct BTC-e exchange.
The ForkLog newsroom was approached by several platform users who were blocked due to potential ties to Suex. Later, six Binance customers reported the lifting of restrictions on their accounts.
Earlier, the Bitcoin exchange Binance reported the removal of several accounts linked to Suex addresses, in line with its internal security measures.
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