Latest Russian banking regulations will enable financial institutions to freeze or block clients’ bank accounts or companies associated with crypto activities.
The rule change has been imposed by the nation’s Central Bank, which has painted adjustments it will move to the existing banking code, affirming that if they detect indication signs of the “circulation of digital currencies,” commercial banks will soon be able to step in to block account access.
The Central Bank communicated that crypto-related bank transactions are often “characterized by regular and one-way” deals, involve “large amounts,” and can be flagged as “suspicious transactions” involved with “money laundering or terrorist financing” under the new ruling.
The reform will likely be declared in October this year unless the government decides to intervene – an unlikely step at this stage.
The Central Bank seems to have outlined the amendment in October last year and received approval from the nation’s Ministry of Justice, which appears to have signed off on the rule change in December.
The news comes just days after a new law outlawing crypto as a means of payment came into force, followed by words of warning from Anatoly Aksakov, the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, and the chief architect of the nation’s crypto policy.
Last week, Aksakov addressed somewhat alarmingly stricter regulations to Russia and beyond in the year ahead.
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