The US Treasury has imposed sanctions against the BitRiver group of companies engaged in cryptocurrency mining in the Russian Federation.
According to the agency, the operator of mining data centers BitRiver, founded in 2017, currently has three offices in the Russian Federation. In 2021, BitRiver transferred ownership of its assets to the Swiss holding company BitRiver AG.
In addition to him, ten subsidiaries were included in the sanctions list, including Bitriver Management Company LLC, Bitriver Rus LLC, Everest Group LLC, Siberian Minerals LLC, Tuvaasbest LLC, Asbestos Trading House LLC, Bitriver-B LLC, Bitriver-K", LLC "Bitriver-Sever", LLC "Bitriver-Turma".
Thus, the US Treasury stopped the possibility of a potential circumvention of sanctions by Russia with the help of mining. This is the first case of inclusion in the sanctions list of companies mining cryptocurrencies.
ForkLog has requested comments from BitRiver representatives.
Also under the sanctions of OFAC was a Russian entrepreneur, the owner of the Tsargrad group of companies Konstantin Malofeev, whom the media had previously associated with the theft of bitcoins from the WEX exchange.
The agency has blocked any property of BitRiver and Malofeev-related companies within the borders of the United States. Residents and citizens of the country are prohibited from working with them.
Recall that in early April, the Hydra darknet marketplace and the Garantex cryptocurrency exchange fell under US sanctions.