Preventing The Use Of Cryptocurrencies To Evade Sanctions

Cryptocurrencies have been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Their values have plummeted leaving investors out of pocket. Exchanges, lenders, and other entities in the crypto ecosystem have gone bust. Numerous fraud and money laundering cases involving cryptocurrencies have surfaced. Now, to add to all of this negativity, evidence is emerging about the wide-scale use of cryptocurrencies to evade economic sanctions imposed by western countries on foreign citizens, governments, and other entities.

One of the biggest cases was highlighted by Reuters last November. Under the headline "Crypto exchange Binance helped Iranian firms trade $8 billion despite sanctions," the news agency alleged that the exchange had processed that amount of crypto transactions since 2018 in violation of U.S. sanctions designed to cut off Iran from the global financial system.