15 Million Crypto Addresses Linked To Criminal Activity In Russia Identified By Forensics Firm

[Rogue Valley]

15 Million Crypto Addresses Linked To Criminal Activity In Russia Identified By Forensics Firm

3.15.22
Cryptocurrency forensics firm Elliptic has found millions of cryptocurrency wallets possibly linked to criminals in Russia, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing its co-founder Tom Robinson. Elliptic identified over 15 million digital wallet addresses associated with Russia-based criminal activity and “several hundred thousand” tied to sanctioned Russians and their associates, according to the report. The firm also observed a tripling of activity across the 400 virtual asset services that allow users to buy cryptocurrency in rubles. Elliptic has passed on information regarding one wallet in particular with millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency holdings to authorities. The firm believes that this wallet could be linked to sanctioned Russian officials and oligarchs. “Crypto can be used for sanctions evasion,” the report quoted Robinson as saying. “What’s in question is on what kind of scale. It’s not proving realistic that oligarchs can completely bypass sanctions by moving all their wealth into crypto.”

Last week, leading U.S. think-thank Brookings explained that policymakers should be more concerned with privacy coins like Monero and Zcash because they have anonymizing features that make them more difficult to trace. Major U.S. cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase Global Inc and Kraken have agreed to abide by the imposed sanctions but have no plans to restrict every user based in Russia despite requests from Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine has received close to $100 million from donations in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Polkadot, and Solana.

The US Treasury Department should keep tabs on cryptocurrency transactions in Russia.