Biden Administration announced early this month that it’s going to put sanctions on cryptocurrency exchanges that deal in ransomware payments and as a first shot it has issued sanctions on Russian Cryptocurrency Exchange Suex.
Therefore, the company will no longer be accessible from any of US Infrastructure or to any American citizens. What if the transaction is done in another country and the currency say in Bitcoins gets transferred to a wallet owned by an American?
So, from now on the blockchain based virtual currency exchange can no longer take part in illicit transactions as it has helped at least 8 ransomware gangs to launder money for launching ransomware attacks on businesses operating in Healthcare to Manufacturing industries.
Wally Adeyemo, the financial secretary for United States Treasury, confirmed the news and stated that the sanctions will act as a warning to hackers to stop their indulgence in illegal transactions. And with the SUEX, a study conducted by Chainalysis found that over 40% of its transactions were linked to illicit actors such as scammers and dark market traders- means more than $370 million in US Fiat currency.
SUEX is yet to react to the sanctions, but a source from the company’s board stated that the company will abide by the law and will work on ways to avoid such sanctions in the future.
Note- The business of SUEX is officially registered in Czech Republic of Europe. But has a firm presence in Moscow and Saint Petersburg of Russia, where crypto currency users can avail the chance of cashing in their digital currency in fiat cash.
