The US to introduce another bill that could require exchanges to cut ties with Russia

Russia is not stopping its action for a peaceful end to the dispute with Ukraine and the world is not stopping its sanctions imposition on the former. The United States parliament house representative Brad Sherman has introduced a bill that aims to crack down on the U.S. companies that handle transactions from Russian individuals and banks.

While speaking at a meeting with the House Financial Services Committee, Sherman revealed his plans on the introduction of a companion bill to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s law to give the government the “explicit authority to require that crypto exchanges that are subject to U.S. law stop facilitating transactions with Russian-based crypto wallets.” 

I'll be speaking soon with @Mitchellreports on @MSNBC about my new bill to ensure crypto isn't used by Putin and his cronies to undermine our economic sanctions. Hope you'll tune in! https://t.co/H8iTnA5Ulw

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 8, 2022

Notably, according to reports, Warren’s proposed legislation would provide the Treasury Department the right to prevent crypto exchanges under US jurisdiction from processing transactions from Russian individuals’ crypto addresses. Additionally, taxpayers in the United States would be obliged to record any crypto transactions outside the country that surpass $10,000 to FinCEN, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

U.S. companies can’t do business with crypto wallets from Russia

Sherman said that he will be joining his colleagues “to make sure that one of the tools available to the administration is the ability to tell crypto exchanges if they’re doing business in the United States, they can’t do business with Russia-based crypto wallets until this crisis is over.”

Sherman is known for his anti-crypto beliefs and has previously called for a ban on digital assets. He cited the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine asking for all crypto exchanges to “block addresses of Russian users.”

After constant urge by Ukraine for a crypto crackdown on Russia, CEX like exchange giant Binance refused a direct crackdown on citizens of Russia but said that they would comply with sanctions.

Kraken, on the other hand, said that the exchange requires a legal order for freezing accounts in Russia.

1/6 I understand the rationale for this request but, despite my deep respect for the Ukrainian people, @krakenfx cannot freeze the accounts of our Russian clients without a legal requirement to do so.

Russians should be aware that such a requirement could be imminent. #NYKNYC https://t.co/bMRrJzgF8N

— Jesse Powell (@jespow) February 28, 2022