A group of senators introduced a bill that would discourage foreign cryptocurrency firms from engaging with sanctioned Russian elites to prevent the latter from evading international sanctions using digital assets.
The Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act “will crack down on foreign actors who help sanctioned Russians use digital assets like cryptocurrencies to circumvent the crippling measures we’ve put in place to punish Russia for its barbaric invasion of Ukraine,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a statement published Thursday.
The bill would direct the U.S. president to identify and sanction foreign digital asset actors that enable Russia to evade sanctions and require the Department of the Treasury to release a public report that identifies foreign digital asset trading platforms that are considered to be high risk for money laundering, sanctions evasion and other illicit activities.
The legislation would provide the Treasury secretary authority to bar digital asset trading systems from transacting with Russia-linked cryptocurrency addresses and direct the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to require U.S. taxpayers with offshore cryptocurrency transactions worth more than $10,000 to file FinCEN Form 114.
Among the lawmakers that introduced the bill were Warner, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
