Japan Bans All Crypto Transactions From Russia and Belarus

• Tokyo orders 31 crypto exchanges to bar Russian transactions.
• The lone Asian G7 nation will impose a JPY1 Million fine or 3-year imprisonment for defaulters. 
• Hiroshima-elected PM, Kishida, says he’ll never tolerate the use of nuclear weapons.

Following the Group of Seven (G7) anti-Russia sanction announcement last Friday, Japan is going into full compliance mode by directing all 31 operational exchanges to restrict transactions linked to Russia. 

The move comes after reports of massive crypto liquidations linked to Russians in UAE became known, spiking worries of a possibility of sanction evasion. The White House press, in its reaction, stated that:

“We will ensure that the Russian state and elites, proxies, and oligarchs cannot leverage digital assets as a means of evading or offsetting the impact of international sanctions, which will further limit their access to the global financial system.”

G7 Release Fresh Sanctions

The US, Germany, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom together make up the G7 nations, which sat over the weekend to map out a fresh list of stricter sanctions against the Russian government. These next steps would see the Kremlin government stripped off its Most-Favoured-Nation status, and prevented from accessing any form of finance from international bodies. 

The White House also aims to limit the spread of Russian disinformation, shrink all trade alliances with the Putin-led government and penalize top Russian oligarchs believed to be close pals to the president. 

Following the reports of massive crypto-dumping by Russians to the UAE, fears are ripe that cryptocurrencies may continually remain exploited as a viable conduit for circumventing sanctions. The G7 has now resolved to block all Russian access to crypto transactions after many experts had dispelled claims that crypto cannot be used to evade sanctions. 

Japan Steps Up to the Task

As the only Asian member of the G7, Japan will have to brace up on its lag and act on the new resolution which proposes 36-month imprisonment or $8,470 (1,000,000 JPY) in fines for defaulters. 

So far, a comprehensive list of 10 Russia-linked groups, 44 Russians, 19 Belarussians, 15 Belarus-linked organisations, including both President Putin and President Lukashenko has been targeted, and the Japanese government promises to extend the sanctions to all forms of crypto-assets including NFTs.

April 2nd is marked for imposing sanctions on VTB Bank, Novikombank, Bank Otkritie, and Sovcombank — four of the biggest Russian banks. According to the EU, these banks will be disconnected from the SWIFT interbank connection network.