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EU wants to close Russia's "potential loopholes" through crypto

 


The Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers) has decided on “a fifth sanctions package against the Putin regime in response to the brutal attack against Ukraine”, which will also ban certain crypto services.


As the EU explains in this context , with this “ban on the provision of high-quality crypto services to Russia” it wants to ensure that “potential loopholes” that are still open to circumvent the sanctions are closed. This step is part of a total of three financial measures, which in turn are part of a larger package. A general transaction ban is now to apply to four Russian banks and their assets are also to be frozen, and advisory services for the funds of wealthy Russian individuals may no longer be provided.


Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin reported last week that the Russian population now owns more than $130 billion in cryptocurrencies . In fact, these assets almost equal the country's gold reserves, which are estimated at $140 billion. Mishustin's report can be understood as a clear pointer to the West, because the EU and the USA had recently repeatedly feared that Russia could circumvent the financial sanctions in this way.

The European Commission had already extended its sanctions against Russia and Belarus to cryptocurrencies in early March . The US Treasury Department then also warned against making crypto transactions to Russian citizens and banks.


So while politicians seem to have identified crypto as a loophole for the government around Vladimir Putin, oil and gas exports remain open as an important source of income for Russia. After all, the sanctions package that has now been passed contains a ban on the import of Russian coal, while oil and gas remain unmentioned. The USA is already further along in this regard and has passed a draft law in the first instance that is intended to ban the import of oil and gas. However, the Americans are already almost independent of Russian supplies, as oil and gas only make up 2% of consumption here, while Europe gets almost 20% from Russia.

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