Hirokazu Matsuno, Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Japanese government, reported during a press conference that his government is working on a bill that allows reviewing the legal regulations on currencies that allow the inclusion of cryptocurrency exchanges.

The Japanese country plans to modify its Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law so that crypto exchanges are incorporated into the regulations that govern financial entities. The proposed amendment is intended to prevent sanctioned countries from taking evasive action using digital assets.

With the update of the legal precepts, cryptocurrency exchanges will have the obligation, as banks do, to “verify and mark transactions associated with sanctioned Russian individuals or groups.”

Recently elected Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed his support for the reform and asked to coordinate measures with Western countries allied to the Japanese government in order to achieve greater effectiveness in the application of the new laws.

As will be remembered, Japan joined with most Western governments to impose various financial sanctions on Russia due to the military actions it is carrying out in Ukraine. In early March, Japan’s regulatory body asked the different cryptocurrency exchange houses to refrain from “allowing transactions for sanctioned parties.”

Protection against international sanctions

The reform of the Law on Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade by the parliament would establish the obligation that cryptocurrency exchanges must have to “block transactions for several sanctioned Russian officials, oligarchs, banks and other institutions.”

The concern of the Japanese government authorities is focused on the possibility that Russia “attempts to circumvent sanctions using cryptocurrencies”. A concern that arises as a result of the country’s growing interest in the cryptoactive market, coupled with the statements of some of the Russian ministers on the crypto market.

As is known worldwide, the financial sanctions established against Russia have made that country try to implement alternative payment systems and methods that allow them to access international markets and obtain the products and services they require to maintain their economies and at the same time obtain their income.

The use of digital assets as an instrument to evade the sanctions imposed on various countries has been a topic that has been widely discussed by experts in recent days. However, many of the analysts consider that there is no evidence to support this phenomenon, on the contrary, it is “totally unfounded” speculation.

M. Rodríguez

Source: es.cointelegraph.com

La entrada Japan to strengthen regulation of cryptocurrency trading apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The US bank Citigroup has announced its intention to extend the scope of its withdrawal from the Russian market, from which it had already announced its intention to leave the consumer business, as well as the cessation of the search for new businesses or clients in the country.

“In April 2021, we announced our intention to exit our consumer business in the country. We have now decided to expand the scope of that exit process to include other lines of business and continue to reduce our remaining operations and exposure,” confirmed Edward Skyler, Executive Vice President of Global Public Affairs at Citi.

In this sense, the executive has indicated that the entity is working urgently to complete the evaluation of its operations in Russia, although he warned that due to the nature of banking and financial services operations, it will take time to execute the decision.

Citigroup meets its legal obligations

In addition, Citi has decided to stop soliciting new business or clients in Russia, while providing assistance to multinational corporations, many of which are undergoing the complex task of unwinding their operations.

“We will continue to manage our existing regulatory commitments and obligations to depositors, as well as support all of our employees during this very difficult time,” he added.

Citigroup revealed an exposure to Russia of about 10,000 million dollars (9,160 million euros).

Source: dpa

La entrada Citigroup extends its withdrawal from the Russian market apareció primero en Bitfinance.