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- 1 On Friday, a list of 22 individuals and 144 organizations was published.
- 2 Hanafin intermediate company has received over $5.2 million in the tether stablecoin (USDT).
The Russian industrial companies, also the people and entities that are helping Russia in moving money, are sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The blockchain intelligence company Elliptic spotted a wallet on the Ethereum blockchain, which belongs to 48-y.o. John Desmond Hanafin, United Arab Emirates resident from Ireland.
Global Payments In Cryptocurrency is Prohibited
Since the war is continuing in Russia, many individuals want to move out of the country to settle somewhere else. But, the problem stuck because the previous sanctions do not allow global payments.
This problem does not stop here. Some foreign organizations took advantage of the situation. They target high net-worth Russians and provide them with facilities like passports. And in return, receive high crypto currency.
This came under the vision of OFAC, and they sanctioned Hanafin, Cryptovenience, and CryptAnet. Trading and payments in cryptocurrency are still prohibited in Russia. The Russian government is working on licenses and oversees cryptocurrency platforms. The cross-border deals are thus under scrutiny. The geopolitical conditions are not in favor of cross-border deals in cryptocurrency.
The Wallet Shows Transactions in Tether Stablecoin
On the basis of blockchain data, the wallet related to the company has received over $5.2 million in the tether stablecoin (USDT) since the beginning of the war. OFAC revealed that Hanafin helped rich or high-net-worth Russian citizens to obtain passports from other countries.
Also, it helps in moving money across borders. Due to previous sanctions, Russia has been cut from global payment networks.
FZE LLE, the chief executive of UAE-based private equity Huriya Private Hanafin helped move money from Russia to the UAE. The OFAC said Hanafin used his firm as an intermediary. He also worked with Yulia Sergreeva to launch his operation in the UAE.
Yulia Sergreeva is an employee of a Moscow-based investment banking firm Aquila Capital Group which is also under sanctions. Huge transactions of about 1,132,000 USDT have been received in the wallet of Hanafin since Feb. 2022.
Most of the money came from centralized exchanges like Huboi, Binance, OKX, and FTX (bankrupt). This is revealed by the data on Etherscan. The other companies sanctioned by OFAC are Cryptovenience and CryptAnet.
The Swiss national Anselm Oskar Schumucki controls CryptAnet. Schmucki controls a global network of shell companies and has close financial relationships with criminals to do money laundering.
The Estonian company Cryptovenience offers plastic cards for the storage and spending of cryptocurrencies. According to Estonian business registry data, this organization does business in wholesale of metals and metal ores.
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast, with a major in macroeconomics and minor in business statistics. She believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks, and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning. She frequently researches, and posts content on the top altcoins, their theoretical working principles and technical price predictions.
