Bank of Russia wants to block emotional and suspicious crypto activity

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As cryptocurrency investments become increasingly popular in Russia, the country’s central bank is actively working to curb suspicious crypto activity and block some crypto purchases.

The Bank of Russia has started working with local banks to get them to stop payments to cryptocurrency exchanges to protect customers from emotional crypto purchases.

Sergey Shvetsov, the first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, argued that the new measures are aimed at protecting Russian investors from potential losses in the event the cryptocurrency market drops to zero, the agency reported on Wednesday. local press RIA Novosti.

The latest anti-crypto move comes shortly after the Bank of Russia called on local banks and credit companies to pay attention to certain types of financial transactions made by individuals, including transactions related to banking services. cryptocurrency exchange.

In an official statement released on September 6, the Russian central bank asked local banks to block customer accounts, e-wallets or credit cards for suspicious crypto transactions identified using a wide range of criteria such as as the number of senders or recipients.

Some of the criteria suggest that Russian banks should block accounts linked to an unusually high number of counterparties, or accounts involving transactions of more than 10 different payers or recipients per day, or more than 50 such counterparties per month. Other criteria require increased attention from banks if average customer balances do not exceed 10% of their average daily transaction volumes for at least a week.

According to the document, the new recommendations aim to track and curb illicit financial activities linked to illegal businesses. According to the Bank of Russia, actors in the underground economy largely receive payments from bank cards or electronic wallets often issued by fictitious identities.

The Bank of Russia did not immediately respond to Cointelegraphs request for comment.

Related: Survey Finds 77% of Russian Investors Prefer Bitcoin to Gold and Forex

As previously reported, the Bank of Russia has been largely reluctant to embrace the cryptocurrency industry. In July, the central bank asked local exchanges to stay away from quotes from foreign and local companies involved in offering cryptocurrency-related services. The authority has also reportedly prevented major banks from offering crypto trading.

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