Singapore’s crypto companies are required to comply with sanctions against Russia

The ban on cooperation with individuals from the Russian Federation on the sanctions list applies to all financial institutions of the island republic

16.03.2022 - 13:00

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What’s new? The Singapore government has expanded financial restrictions against Russia to include cryptocurrency exchanges. The ban on cooperation with Russia now applies to all financial institutions in the city-state, according to the Monetary Authority (MAS). Singapore’s financial institutions are required to comply with the economic restrictions on individuals and entities from the Russian Federation on the sanctions list.

Link to MAS

What preceded it? In early March, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges have joined sanctions against Russia by blocking Russian IP addresses. The European Union also included cryptocurrencies in its sanctions package against the Russian Federation. In turn, the Japanese authorities urged cryptocurrency exchanges not to process transactions subject to the sanctions to freeze assets of Russian and Belarusian users.

Which exchanges support the sanctions? As of March 10, the Binance cryptocurrency exchange stopped accepting Mastercard and Visa cards issued in Russia. The exchange's head, Changpeng Zhao, stated that the platform complies with the imposed restrictions against the Russian Federation, but does not intend to block access to the platform for people who are not on the sanctions lists. The same view is held by the cryptocurrency exchanges Bitfinex, Kraken, and Coinbase.

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