The US Treasury wants to crack down on bitcoin miners in Russia. For the first time, we are dealing with the first sanctions from the United States on foreign miners.
The Department of Foreign Assets adds Russian mining BitRiver and 10 subsidiaries to its blacklist. Adding all Specially appointed nationals Do you think so Here⁇
Concrete action
According to the media company The Black, this is the first step towards increasing pressure on miners from Russia. These actions are part of an ever-growing sanctions against Putin, those around him and all Russians.
It is not clear in which category BitRiver can be placed.
The reason for the Ministry of Finance is as follows: “These companies are helping to monetize Russia’s resources by using large data centers that sell international mining capabilities.”
Russia plays a key role in the global energy market. Bitcoin miners benefit from cheaper and more energy. It is therefore obvious that a small portion of the energy reserves are used for this operation.
However, the United States wants to prevent this from becoming a major source of income for Putin:“The United States wants to ensure that any property, no matter how complex, becomes a mechanism for the Putin administration to offset the impact of sanctions.”
Russia is the world’s second-largest miner after the United States and Kazakhstan.
It remains to be seen what constraints will ultimately achieve in practice.