New Delhi | Jagran Business Desk: The most dominant reaction to Russian invasion of Ukraine is dominated by the phrase ‘economic sanctions’. But reports have emerged claiming that Vladimir Putin may have found a way around it after its experience of similar economic sanctions after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. While cryptocurrencies and other digital assets may be a bad news for law enforcement agencies as well as the enforcers of such economic sanctions, it may be a good news for Russia.

In the run up to the official start of Russia-Ukraine war on Thursday, Washington has enacted a fresh set of sanctions on Tuesday followed by Boris Johnson in London. The European Union too agreed on Friday to seal Moscow’s access to its financial ecosystem aimed at thwarting the transfer of money by banks to Russian people.

Russia is prepared for sanctions: Experts

Russia is prepared to make deals with anyone around the world by making transactions in cryptocurrencies to bypass the economic control points around the world. “Russia has had a lot of time to think about this specific consequence,” Michael Parker, former federal prosecuter in the US who at present heads the anti money-laundering and sanctions practice at the Washington-based law firm Ferrari and Associates, was quoted as saying by The New York Times. “It would be naïve to think that they haven’t gamed out this exact scenario,” he added.

According to a New York Times report, hacking techniques like ransomware could help Russians steal digital currencies and make up revenue lost to sanctions. While cryptocurrency transactions are recorded on the underlying blockchain, making them transparent, new tools developed in Russia can help mask the origin of such transactions. That would allow businesses to trade with Russian entities without detection. There is a precedent for this with the evasion of sanctions from Iran and North Korea, report adds.
The total capitalisation of the crypto market, according to CoinMarketCap, has increased by 9.6 per cent per day to $1.72 trillion. The Bitcoin dominance index rose 0.3 points to 42.6 per cent.

- With inputs from IANS