When yesterday an extended press conference of American law enforcement officials was announced, it was presented almost as something extraordinary is going to happen. Meanwhile, the central topic was an announcement of the closure of the Russia-related Bitzlato cryptocurrency exchange, along with the FBI’s arrest of the exchange’s owner.
The US Department of Justice alleges that Bitzlato conducted a money transmitting business that transported and transmitted more than $700 billion of illicit funds and that failed to meet U.S. regulatory safeguards, including anti-money laundering requirements. Bitzlato’s largest counterparty in cryptocurrency transactions was Hydra Market, an illicit online drugs marketplace.
In this regard, the most important thing from the statement of the DOJ: cryptocurrency flows are under our control, it will no longer be possible to conduct illicit operations, hide on some sandy islands in the ocean and, of course, sanctions cannot be circumvented.
