Russian Cryptocurrency Volumes Across Several Exchanges Dip By 50%

Regardless of the growing economic sanctions against Russia, the volume of cryptocurrencies bought using Rubles across several major cryptocurrency exchanges plummets drastically.

According to data from blockchain-data aggregators display, Russian collateralizing crypto trading across significant crypto exchanges is dropping badly. This debunks the idea that Russia will leverage crypto assets in maneuvering sanctions.

Last week, when the Bitcoin price surged more than 15%, some crypto pundits proposed that the rally was related to Russians purchasing crypto assets amid the growing economic sanctions.

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Moreover, this belief seems contradictory as Chainalysis displayed data, revealing ruble-denomination cryptocurrency trading. It plummeted to $34.1 million on Thursday, which is about a 50%-decline since its recent high of $70.7 million last week on February 24.

Citigroup Analyst Comments On The Cryptocurrency Situation

Commenting on the topic of sanctions-focused crypto buying to Bloomberg. Alexander Saunders-Citigroup analyst responded that the trading volumes have been comparatively small recently. However, he also proposed that this PA is higher because of traders and investors preparing for an anticipated increasing demand from Russia instead of the country demanding for itself.

Regardless of pundits’ debunking, cryptocurrency could be essential to aid Russia in circumventing sanctions. But unfortunately, the EU (European Union) and the United States are still spurring their regulatory assessments of cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency market expected to soar | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com

Just recently, NY state upsurged its blockchain monitoring capabilities to further inhibit digital currencies from being used for aiding Russian interests.

Governor Of New York Against Russian Collaborations With The State

On February 27, Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, gave an executive order informing agencies to terminate all collaborations with Russian companies and institutions, even entities and bodies that provide them assistance.

In her statement, she highlighted that New York is home to the country’s largest Ukrainian population. And will use all technological assets to safeguard her people, thus showing Russia that they will be held accountable.

The Blockchain Associations’ Head of Policy in the United States – Jake Chervinsky, described their worries as “totally unfounded. In his tweet, he explained his perspective of the ongoing situation.

He stated that Russia can’t and won’t be able to utilize cryptocurrencies to evade economic sanctions. Chervinsky buttressed that these worries misunderstand: how sanctions operate, how cryptocurrency markets work, how Putin aims to mitigate sanctions, etc.

Ari Redbord, the Head of Legal and Government Affairs at TRM Labs, also commented on bolstering this perspective further. He explained that currently, it’s too later for Russia to use cryptocurrencies to handle its sanctions.

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Also, he added that cryptocurrencies’ and blockchains’ transparent nature would make it possible for the entire public to monitor transactions and notice individuals or entities trying to maneuver sanctions.

Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView.com

The Man Behind Helix, A Bitcoin Mixer, Pleads Guilty To Laundering Over $300M

Bitcoin is not a useful tool for money launderers and here’s proof. 38-years-old Larry Dean Harmon admitted to being the operator of Helix, a Bitcoin Mixer service that operated on the Darknet. According to the US Department of Justice, “Harmon advertised Helix to customers on the Darknet to conceal transactions from law enforcement.” What was this man thinking? 

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The press release continues:

Harmon admitted that Helix partnered with several Darknet markets, including AlphaBay, Evolution, Cloud 9 and others, to provide bitcoin money laundering services for market customers. In total, Helix moved over 350,000 bitcoin – valued at over $300 million at the time of the transactions – on behalf of customers, with the largest volume coming from Darknet markets. Harmon further admitted that he conspired with Darknet vendors and marketplace administrators to launder such bitcoins generated through illegal drug trafficking offenses on those Darknet marketplaces.

The blockchain sees it all and registers every transaction forever. A mixer, also known as a tumbler, is a service that seeks to anonymize transactions. They pool together funds from several parties, mix them up, and serve supposedly clean coins to everyone involved. At the very least, the coins can’t be traced to a specific address. For that, they charge a fee.

BTC price chart for 08/19/2021 on Currency.com | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Even Helix Didn’t Know How Much It Was Laundering. And Bitcoin Is Money

Betraying everything that’s sacred, Larry Dean Harmon’s defense was that he wasn’t guilty because Bitcoin is not money. The law went on the record and confirmed what Bitcoiners have been saying for years, the Washington Post reports: 

A line of reasoning rejected by Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell.“ ‘Money,’ ” she wrote, “commonly means a medium of exchange, method of payment, or store of value. Bitcoin is these things.”

That’s on the record. The law knows that Bitcoin is money.

In any case, one thing about mixers is that there are no humans involved in the process. The system does it all. In Helix’s case, apparently, no one even knew how much money they were laundering. Bitcoin.com quotes Harmon’s defense attorney Charles Flood:

“One interesting thing about this case is there was a double-blind system Harmon had set up with Helix,” Flood said in the federal courtroom on Wednesday. “While he completely acknowledges that he violated the law and was in fact laundering money and knew it was drug proceeds … he does not know the exact amount laundered,” Flood added.

What Will The Law Do With Larry Dean Harmon?

For the punishment, we quote once again the original press release:

As part of his plea, Harmon also agreed to the forfeiture of more than 4,400 bitcoin, valued at more than $200 million at today’s prices, and other seized properties that were involved in the money laundering conspiracy. Harmon will be sentenced at a date to be determined and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, a term of supervised release of not more than three years, and mandatory restitution.

Ouch.

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This all leads to our original statement, Bitcoin is not a useful tool for money launderers. Or for criminals in general. To drive the point home, the Wall Street Journal quotes Ari Redbord. He’s “a former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a former senior adviser at Treasury,” and says:

The guilty plea shows U.S. law enforcement is pursuing cryptocurrency mixers with connections to the Darknet and illicit activities, while the transparency of blockchain enables them to trace the funds.

“The nature of cryptocurrency is to allow law enforcement to have unique visibility on financial flow where they never had before.”

And that’s another thing Bitcoiners have been saying all along.

Featured Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay – Charts by TradingView