Stop your crypto business in Russia, Washington tells Japanese stock exchanges and miners
Washington wants Japanese regulators to convince domestic crypto exchanges and miners to cut all ties with Russia, according to a new report.
The Financial Times claimed that US “diplomats” believe “several” Japanese crypto exchanges “are still operating in Russia”, according to unnamed “people close to the situation”.
The diplomats allegedly want Japanese miners to pull the plug on the crypto mining operation they run in Irkutsk Oblast in southern Siberia, according to “two people who are familiar with the case”.
Irkutsk has become a hotspot for miners both domestically and internationally in recent times, with activity increasing following China’s mining operations last year.
A number of major Japanese players from a number of sectors have invested heavily in foreign crypto mining – mainly due to the prohibitively high cost of mining in Japan.
Although most Japanese operators have kept the exact location of their foreign mining secrets secret, it is known that a number of East Asian investors have established mining centers in Central Asia, with some believed to be working in Siberia.
As previously reported, back in March, both Japan’s top financial regulator, the Finansbyrå (FSA), and Ministry of Finance asked the country’s stock exchanges to suspend all transactions with sanctioned Russians and Belarusians.
But Washington now wants the stock exchanges to go one step further – and halt all Russia-related operations.
Cryptonews.com spoke to an employee of a Japanese stock exchange who, on condition of anonymity, stated that they were aware of a US request, but added that their company had no contact with Russian customers.
The same employee thought that this would probably be a bigger problem for crypto miners, who had spent “significant amounts of money” on creating mining-related “infrastructure” in “various European and Asian places” that enjoy access to low-cost energy.
The Financial Times, meanwhile, quoted the “former leader” of a named stock exchange as confirming that Japanese cryptocurrencies had “faced a recent intensification of pressure to move mining or back office operations out of Russia.”
However, the former leader added, “at least one stock exchange” has “decided to maintain its business” in Russia and “broke the regulation by setting up a shell company in Singapore and directing payments through it”.
The media quoted the FSA representatives as responding by “renewing demands” that exchanges “cut surviving relations” with Russia, confirmed “people close to three stock exchanges”.
The US State Department was quoted as saying that “Washington and its allies” were “united in our determination to hold Russia accountable” for its actions in Ukraine, with a spokesman saying:
“We will continue to evaluate the impact of our actions and are prepared to take further action.”
The media also stated that it had contacted a number of Japanese stock exchanges, which in various ways claimed to have “no operations in Russia.”
And an unnamed “senior” exchange “executive” was quoted as saying that they “knew of at least one mining company that had cut ties with Russia in June” at Washington’s request.
However, “people close to the situation” were quoted as saying that some Japanese stock exchanges and crypto-miners had “developed a complex network of subsidiaries to continue working on their Russian operations.”
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Learn more:
– New law will ban crypto payment in Russia (again) as miners struggle to convince the central bank to legalize the industry
– Bitcoin Mining is gathering support in Russia as more details emerge about international cryptocurrencies
– American Bitcoin Miner aims to sell equipment for USD 30 million in Russia to avoid sanctions
– The Russian central bank is ready to make concessions for cryptocurrency, tips governor
– Japanese police delete the warning about crypto mining after losing the Monero case
– US hits Russian crypto exchange with sanctions, Russian central bank is afraid that crypto will replace rubles
