• Investigation into digital asset exchanges in the Russian capital finds that some of them are ready to buy digital coins and deliver paper money in the U.K.
• The transfers usually do not involve identifying clients, according to Transparency International Russia’s report.
• Some of these crypto exchanges can transfer money abroad without following know-your-customer (KYC) or anti-money laundering (AML) procedures.
Investigation Establishes Moscow City Crypto Exchanges Ready to Send Cash to London
An investigation into digital asset exchanges in the Russian capital has established that some of them are ready to buy digital coins and deliver paper money in the U.K. The transfer of funds does not usually involve the identification of the clients, Transparency International Russia reveals in a report.
Ready To Exchange Stablecoins For British Cash
Russian crypto exchanges that can transfer money abroad without following know-your-customer (KYC) procedures and anti-money laundering (AML) are in the focus of a study conducted by the Russian Chapter of Transparency International. The results were presented in a new report published on Wednesday. The association’s researchers were able to identify more than 20 coin trading platforms operating from Moscow International Business Center, commonly referred to as Moscow City. Through conversations with operators, they also found that eight of them were ready to exchange U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins for British pounds and hand over the cash to recipients in London.
Pridechange Sends Significant Amounts Of Money To Blacklisted Exchange
The authors noted that one of them is Suex, a crypto broker blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in September, 2021 for facilitating ransomware-linked transactions. They also add that a platform called Pridechange sent significant amounts of money to Garantex, another blacklisted exchange with offices in Moscow City.
Transfer Procedure
The way the transfers were made was similar in all cases: first a customer needs to send an amount in tether (USDT) to a wallet address provided by the exchange; once payment is confirmed, an operator dispatches a courier – usually a Russian speaker –to give cash at specified location in London on same or next day; no KYC needed; average monthly amounts between $420k-$470k USDT passing through such wallets .
U K Anti Money Laundering Regulations Require Cryptocurrency Exchanges To Be Registered And Carry Out Customer Due Diligence Checks
U K anti money laundering regulations require cryptocurrency exchanges to be registered and carry out customer due diligence checks however none of these Russian platforms ever asked verify identity representatives despite amount exceeding 10 000 British pounds ($12000).