Singapore Warns Crypto Exchange To Comply With Sanctions Implemented On Russia

Singapore asks crypto exchange to comply with sanctions against Russia. (photo: dock. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Singapore Monetary Exchange (MAS), the country's central bank and financial regulator, reminded all official cryptocurrency exchanges in the island nation to comply with the financial sanctions imposed on Russia.

The statement comes after research revealed that millions of crypto donations were being raised by pro-Russian groups to support the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. MAS also wants to increase sanctions against Russia from financial authorities around the world.

Singapore's decision is in line with EU sanctions against Russia, which were first imposed earlier this year. Initially, the sanctions limited Russian-EU crypto payments to around 10.000 US dollars.

However, the latest restrictions in early October further tightened action and banned “all wallets, accounts or crypto asset storage services, regardless of wallet number.”

Around the time of the first EU sanctions, the MAS put in place measures aimed at Russian banks and other entities based in the country, along with a ban on raising funds for any activity that could benefit the Russian government.

Crypto exchanges and related platforms have fallen in line with sanctions against Russia since the beginning of the conflict.

Popular crypto exchange Kraken closed its doors to Russian users last month and restricted all accounts associated with the country. Similarly, Dapper Labs suspended all Russian user accounts.

The move prohibits accounts connected to Russia from selling, buying or giving away nonfungible tokens (NFT), along with an attempt to stop withdrawing funds.

Recently, Binance's head of global sanctions, Chagri Poyraz, told Cointelegraph in an interview that the company is working hard to comply with EU measures while still best serving their users.

Meanwhile, many Russian users are flocking to neighboring countries, such as Kazakhstan, to continue to take advantage of the services that were previously available to them.