MADRID, 14 (EUROPA PRESS)
The U.S. Treasury Department announced Thursday that it has re-sanctioned the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex for facilitating "illicit activities" since 2019, as well as a network that allegedly facilitates sanctions evasion.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has indicated that it has also designated Garantex's "successor," Grinex, and has taken action against three executives of the former company and six companies from Russia and Kyrgyzstan, according to a statement, noting that these "have supported the exchange's participation in malicious cyber activities."
"Digital assets play a crucial role in global innovation and economic development, and the United States will not tolerate this industry being abused to fuel cybercrime and sanctions evasion," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley.
In this regard, he stressed that "exploiting cryptocurrency exchange platforms to launder money and facilitate ransomware attacks not only threatens (their) national security, but also tarnishes the reputation of legitimate virtual asset service providers."
