US sanctions BitRiver mining group
The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on the BitRiver group of companies, which operate cryptocurrency mining in Russia.
According to the agency, BitRiver, established in 2017 as a mining data-center operator, currently has three offices in Russia. In 2021, BitRiver transferred ownership of its assets to the Swiss holding BitRiver AG.
In addition, ten subsidiary entities were included in the sanctions list, including BitRiver Management Company LLC, BitRiver Rus LLC, Everest Group LLC, Siberian Minerals LLC, Tuvaasbest LLC, Trading House Asbest LLC, BitRiver-B LLC, BitRiver-K LLC, BitRiver-North LLC, BitRiver-Turma LLC.
Thus, the U.S. Treasury has curtailed Russia’s ability to circumvent sanctions through mining. This marks the first instance of a cryptocurrency-mining company being placed on the sanctions list.
In a ForkLog interview, BitRiver founder and chief executive Igor Runets said that he sees the sanctions as unfair competition.
According to him, the parent BitRiver was based in Switzerland and strictly adhered to AML/KYC standards, and the private BitRiver company listed in the sanctions did not provide services to Russian state institutions and did not work with Washington-sanctioned clients.
“The actions of the United States should be regarded as interference in the crypto-mining industry, unfair competition and an attempt to change the global balance of power in favour of American companies,” Runets says.
He also said that the company’s production sites and offices in Russia continue to operate normally.
OFAC also targeted the Russian entrepreneur Konstantin Malofeev, owner of the Tsargrad group of companies, who media had previously linked to the theft of bitcoins from the WEX exchange.
The agency blocked any BitRiver property and the companies linked to Malofeev within U.S. jurisdiction. U.S. residents and citizens are barred from dealing with them.
Earlier in April, Hydra darknet marketplace and the Garantex cryptocurrency exchange were placed under U.S. sanctions.
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