UAE-based crypto firms have faced a flood of applications from Russian citizens to convert digital assets into fiat or withdraw to buy real estate. Reuters writes about this.
Agency sources said that for Over the past ten days, one crypto firm has received “five to six” requests from Swiss brokers asking them to liquidate bitcoins worth at least $2 billion each.
“We have never had such an interest. . There is usually one such deal per month,” the source said. confirmed that the introduced restrictive measures also imply the freezing of cryptocurrencies of citizens who fell under the sanctions. FINMA did not comment on the situation.
The agency recalled that the UAE did not support the measures of the West against Russia because of the war in Ukraine. This led to a surge in the activity of Russians and Belarusians in the country, including in the real estate market. Cryptocurrencies were involved in the transactions as a way to withdraw funds from other jurisdictions.
digital assets. The UAE is relatively free in terms of its regulation,” said Sami Fadlallah of Healy Consultants.
Two of the three diplomats interviewed doubted that the UAE authorities would prevent such an inflow of capital. A third expressed the hope that the measures will still be followed due to fears of damage to the country’s reputation.
On March 4, the FATF placed the UAE on a “grey list” for compliance. The organization cited insufficient efforts in certain segments, including real estate agents and precious metal dealers. bases for combating money laundering.
Recall that the United States announced the strengthening of monitoring of Russia’s circumvention of sanctions with the help of cryptocurrencies. The EU countries agreed on a package of restrictive measures against Russia that affected digital assets.
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