The U.S. government today sanctioned a Russian BitcoinBitcoin miner, with the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control putting Moscow-based BitRiver on its Specially Designated Nationals list.
Ten Russia-based subsidiaries of BitRiver AG, BitRiver’s Switzerland-based holding company, also were added to the list.
It’s the first time the U.S. has sanctioned a cryptocurrency mining company. The sanctions are aimed at harming President Vladimir Putin and his allies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Treasury is also taking action against companies in Russia’s virtual currency mining industry,” said a government statement issued Wednesday. “By operating vast server farms that sell virtual currency mining capacity internationally, these companies help Russia monetize its natural resources.
“Russia has a comparative advantage in crypto mining due to energy resources and a cold climate. However, mining companies rely on imported computer equipment and fiat payments, which makes them vulnerable to sanctions.”
BitRiver Announces Pre-Sale For Low-Carbon Crypto Mining Token
BitRiver, a provider of location services for cryptocurrency mining, today announced the pre-sale of the BitRiver token (BTR). BTR is an ERC-20 utility token that represents one watt-hour of power in BitRiver’s colocation facility, located in Bratsk, Siberia. The token is currently available for pre-sale to investors, with a minimum order quantity of 100,000 BTR tokens per order. The token is also set for public launch on April 19, and will be held on Bithumb Global. The price of one BTR will b...
The announcement comes a day after the International Monetary Fund issued a report warning that Russia could try to use crypto to dodge sanctions.
“The United States,” according to today's Treasury statement, “is committed to ensuring that no asset, no matter how complex, becomes a mechanism for the Putin regime to offset the impact of sanctions.”
