The regulator’s recommendation is intended to stop capital flight amid economic collapse. 



The central bank of Russia (CBR) counseled that the nation’s business banks work up watching users’ transactions that might be geared toward circumventing CBR’s “special economic measures to counter the outflow of foreign currency abroad,” native media reported on Thursday. the advice includes closer oversight over crypto trading, that is called among the vehicles for retreating capital from Russia. 

The letter, sent to the banking organizations by CBR’s chair Yuri Isaev on weekday, directs them to pay nearer attention to the instances of their clients’ “unusual behavior.” This includes “abnormal” transactional activity and uncommon patterns of expenditures. Any withdrawals of cash via digital currencies ought to conjointly attract raised attention, the letter specifies. 

If necessary, the suspicious transactions should be blocked and therefore the info concerning them ought to be passed to the Federal financial monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring). 

Special measures to limit the outflow of foreign currencies were enacted within the initial days of the country war and therefore the ensuing economic sanctions. They embrace limiting Russian citizens’ foreign currency transactions to $5,000, moreover as a $10,000 money cap for those traveling abroad. getting holding, securities and alternative assets from residents of “non-friendly” jurisdictions needs government authorization. 

The vice-chairman of the Russian Banks Association, Aleksey Voylukov, explained to journalists that the CBR’s recommendations shall stop the unfold of schemes to bypass the obligatory limits, particularly via crypto exchanges. 

The news comes as no surprise considering that over ten million Russian voters put together hold around five trillion rubles ($63 billion) in crypto. With their Visa and Mastercard cards disabled and their own government imposing arduous restrictions on transactions, several Russian voters area unit left with crypto because the solely choice to move their funds. 

Despite the widespread narratives of Russian oligarchs attempting to cover their wealth, it's ultimately normal those who accept the digital plus infrastructure amid the skyrocketing inflation and tightening monetary control by the government.


( David Attlee, Cointelegraph, 2022 )