‘Swiss Target’ on Russian Crypto HODLers After SWIFT Debar

The Swiss government is on track to exclude Russia by imposing a sanction on Russian crypto addresses. It will target crypto accounts belonging to its territory. According to a report, Swiss officials denote that this action is intended to secure the integrity of the crypto industry in Switzerland.

Although Switzerland is said to be neutral in political affiliations, an official from the government said the country may target all crypto services owned by Russians. To implement the sanction, the Federal Council of this non-EU country will add new provisions against cryptocurrency, so as to own its regulations.

Sanctions on Russian crypto holders include adopting the European Union’s SWIFT measures and freezing transactions with the Russian Central Bank.

Notably, Switzerland was accused of hiding Russian oligarchs’ assets. In contrary to this, the Swiss government has taken this action against Russia.

However, for days, the country was on the edge of imposing the sanction. Josh Lipsky, Director at the Atlantic Council (GeoEconomics Center) had earlier tweeted a post regarding the sanction. He said that if the Swiss government joins the economic sanctions, it would be a serious blow to Russia’s deflating economy.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency exchange — Coinbase — has recently blocked 25,000 Russian addresses linked to illicit activities. The company has revealed the list of crypto holders to the US government, asking for sanction enforcement support.

Last week, as the EU removed important Russian banks from SWIFT, the banks were restricted from financial transactions globally in an efficient process. This was a critical blow against the Russian financial system.

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is the world’s main financial messaging service that links nearly 11,000 banks and institutions of more than 200 countries.