Russia Continues to Take Measures Against Crypto Exchanges 

The Russian government is not a big fan of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. Before discussing Russia’s position regarding the crypto industry, let’s have a look at Bitcoin. It is moving sideways in the lower timeframes as the crypto markets continue to run without a clear direction. The largest cryptocurrency’s price has been moving in a tight range during the week, unable to break above $48,000. Data provided by Santiment indicate an increase in the amount of its supply exchanging hands since the beginning of September.  

The data mentioned above suggests that investors could be taking more profits as Bitcoin tries to take previous highs contributing to the bear’s attempts to take over the market. 

Russia’s central bank and crypto exchanges 

The country’s central bank unveiled a set of criteria that commercial banks can use to identify cards as well as e-wallets used by companies operating in the shadow economy. Notably, along with illegal forex dealers and financial pyramids, it also listed crypto exchanges as suspicious entities. 

It wants commercial banks to analyze and identify suspicious transactions as part of their AML efforts. After identifying suspicious entities they should no longer provide services to such entities.

A set of criteria issued by the Central Bank of Russia contains many interesting details. For example, the central bank lists deposits and withdrawals of cash where they are more than 30 a day. Banks should also pay attention to a large number of individual payers or recipients. More than 10 per day or 50 per month, should trigger action on the part of financial institutions.

Banks should not forget about frequent transactions as well. So, when the total amounts exceed 100,000 Russian rubles in one day should trigger action from banks. The same applies when the total amounts exceed 1 million rubles a month. Furthermore, small intervals- of less than a minute – between deposits and withdrawals should also alarm bank officials. 

It also makes sense to examine cases where the average remaining balance at the end of each day doesn’t exceed 10% of the average daily transaction volume in a week. Banks could also take measures against accounts that aren’t used to cover utility bills or pay for goods and services. 

Russia’s central bank does not support the legalization of cryptocurrencies and related activities. This summer, the Central Bank of Russia issued a recommendation against the listing of securities tied to crypto assets on Russian stock exchanges.