The European Union and the United States are taking measures against Russia to prevent them from utilizing cryptocurrency as a medium of transaction, and some of the countries from Asia are also gradually responding to the situation.
Japan will penalize the crypto exchanges for violating sanctions
Among the Asian countries, Japan became the first one to comply with the crypto sanction made against Russia. On Monday, Japan told the crypto exchange platforms not to process the crypto transactions that belong to individuals and entities of Russian organizations. The Japanese Ministry of Finance and Financial Service Agency (FSA) have declared a joint statement where they have put emphasis on the fact that dealing with crypto assets that are identified to be linked with Russia will immediately be restricted and frozen.
The FSA has also stated that any uncertified crypto transaction, including the likes of non-fungible tokens (NFT) if approved, will be subjected to major punishment and penalties like a fine of 1 million yen (US 8500 dollars) or three years of imprisonment. After sanctions made by the United States, European Union and other G7 nations targeting the Russian economy and wealthy individuals, the Japanese government followed suit.
Fundraising in crypto for Russia banned in Singapore
To comply with the ban against Russia, other Asian countries have also been making their own movements. Last week Singapore reportedly restricted all local financial organizations to conduct business with Russian banks. All the transactions related to cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens and fundraising related to the Russian government and related entities have been banned.
According to the crypto business executives of the most prominent crypto exchange platforms in Singapore, like Luno, have suggested that most of the crypto business platforms don’t have any direct contact or business relationship with Russia based institutions. Another crypto-enabled private market exchange of Singapore, ADDX, has stated that the sanction on Russia has not impacted the funds. Furthermore, the CEO of ADDX, Oi-Yee Choo, has also said that the platform verifies their customers through Know Your Customer and performs anti-money laundering checks all the time; therefore, the company does not coincide with anonymous transactions.
Russian IP addresses have been blocked by major South Korean Crypto exchanges
After several local crypto exchanges blocking the Russian users and their IP addresses, South Korea had also joined the sanction against Russia. According to the local news agency, Yonhap, from March 3, major South Korean exchange company Upbit has blocked Russian-linked IP addresses. Other South Korean crypto exchange platforms like Korbit, Gopax and Bithumb have also obstructed withdrawals from Russian linked accounts.
While there are countries that have joined the worldwide Russian crypto sanction, on the other hand, there are countries that have undertaken cryptocurrencies as they are the only payment method through which Russians can make payment abroad due to the global sanctions.
Thai association suggests to allow the Russians to pay in crypto as the other way around make payments have been blocked
Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, the president of the Phuket Tourist Association, is reportedly in talks with the Bank of Thailand for the prospect of adopting cryptocurrency as the alternate payment method because there are lots of Russian tourists that have gotten stuck in their country as a result of the sanction.
The payment giants like Visa and Mastercard have cut their connection with all the debit and credit cards held by Russian individuals; therefore, they have been unable to use their debit and credit cards for making payments.
