Russian Central Bank Links Crypto Transactions With Money Laundering

The Central Bank of Russia published a new set of rules for suspicious transactions, Russian finance publication RBC reported on Feb. 17.

The update broadly categorizes any cryptocurrency-linked transaction as a potential money laundering risk.

The bank issued an update to directive 375-P, which lists all signs of suspicious activity that may be linked to money laundering.

The manual was developed in collaboration with the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring.

A central bank representative explained that this was done to "Add new schemes of conducting unusual operations, with consideration to the modern developments in financial markets."

The head of the central bank had previously stated that the number of possible risk factors should be decreased.

Like in other countries, if a bank or another financial service provider identifies certain transactions as suspicious, they may freeze the suspect's account or shut it down completely in severe cases.

Though the list may have been consolidated, the regulators added a broad clause that considers any cryptocurrency-linked activity as a potential risk.

Within the same framework, cash operations require several caveats to be considered as suspicious.

For cryptocurrencies, any activity that can be identified as buying or selling them will be considered a money laundering risk.