The Nation Bank of Georgia (NBG) set plans to start mandatory inspections of cryptocurrency corporations in September 2023.
This decision will help NBG monitor the activities of virtual asset service providers (VASPs) against money laundering.
The National Bank of Georgia Takes Anti-Money Laundering Sanctions Serious
Georgia is pushing forward to complying with the anti-money laundering recommendations against Belarus and Russia.
Notably, Mestvirishvili stated that the European Union and the United States sanctioned Russian last year, and NBG is among the key authorities monitoring the sanctions.
According to Mestvirishvili, the NBG noticed increased deposits in foreign currencies by Russian citizens.
So, NBG decided to take effective sanctions since it is about to approve virtual asset-related legislation in the coming autumn.
Noteworthy, Georgia wants to be a global crypto-friendly home, so it is taking necessary measures to prevent terrorist financing within its territory, which could ruin its reputation.
FATF and Its Stance on Money Laundering
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a renowned intergovernmental organization based in Paris and aims to stop terrorist financing and money laundering activities.
Furthermore, when FATF mentions a country in its grey list as unsafe after strict scrutiny, this verdict predicts that country’s economic meltdown.
The verdict will degrade the country and portrays it as one without the rule of law, and this will also discourage investors.
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The Financial Action Task Force has suspended Russia following Russia’s full-scale Ukraine invasion.
It has added Nigeria and South Africa to its grey list, which does not speak well for the economy of these countries, though they are still under scrutiny.
Russia and Iran Team to Evade Sanctions
Iran is also a country sanctioned by the United Nations, the United States, and the European Union.
Note Russia and Iran are in partnership seeking means to mitigate the economic sanctions placed on it.
The partnership between the two countries has grown beyond exchanging military weapons to making a cryptocurrency for its foreign trade.
Interestingly, this cryptocurrency will be a mitigating tool to reduce the effects of economic sanctions on the countries.
Note cryptocurrency will be a stablecoin backed by gold to facilitate cross-border transactions to assist each other without being monitored.
Furthermore, the stablecoin will operate in Astrakhan, a Russian exceptional economic zone. This zone is where Russia accepts cargo shipments from Iran.
Anton Tkachev, a Russian lawmaker, stated that digital currency would be possible if Russia regulates the market.
Wealthy Russians Use Crypto-Linked Transactions to Evade Sanctions
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) asserted that some wealthy Russians moved $5.2 million into UAE with the help of John Desmond Hanafin, an Irish man, through a crypto wallet.
Furthermore, OFAC reported that Elliptic, a company that provides blockchain analytics and anti-money laundering software, spotted Hanafin’s crypto wallet on the Ethereum blockchain.
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