Bloomberg said the payments were made through Moscow crypto exchange Garantex using the Tether cryptocurrency.
The US and Britain are investigating more than $20 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions that passed through the Russian exchange. Payments are made through the Moscow crypto exchange Garantex using the Tether cryptocurrency, which is pegged to the dollar. Bloomberg reported this, citing its sources, on Thursday, March 28.
These transfers come after the US and UK sanctioned Garantex for allegedly facilitating financial crimes and illegal transactions in Russia.
Sources caution that investigations are ongoing and it is too early to draw conclusions due to the complexity and murky nature of cryptocurrency transactions.
Tether is a stablecoin that aims to maintain value against each other against the dollar. It is the most traded cryptocurrency in the world, with over $100 billion worth of coins in circulation. Tether’s anonymity, speed and stability have made the currency popular with criminals. Tether was the most commonly used stablecoin for criminal cryptocurrency activity last year.
The Garantex exchange has previously said it is committed to preventing its platform from being used for illegal activities and is actively cooperating with authorities in Europe and the United States until sanctions are imposed on it.
Garantex was founded in 2019 in Estonia, although the US government says 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 cooperation 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.
As you know, in January the United States took an important step in legalizing Bitcoin. The SEC allowed fund industry heavyweights BlackRock, Invesco and Fidelity to compete with smaller rivals including Valkyrie to begin trading. After that, the price of the cryptocurrency began to rise rapidly.
Source: korrespondent
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