Because the Russian authorities is contemplating a ban on cash-to-cryptocurrency transactions, some main native crypto alternate platforms have skilled police raids.
Mosca, a crypto-to-cash alternate situated within the Moscow Worldwide Enterprise Heart, was raided on April 23 in reference to fraud by one in all its prospects, Mosca’s growth head Dmitry Titarenko confirmed to Cointelegraph.
“Regulation enforcement companies have carried out an ordinary process of checking our buyer knowledge,” Titarenko advised Cointelegraph on the native crypto occasion Blockchain Discussion board 2025.
The Mosca workplace raid adopted on-line studies linking a number of arrests of some Mosca prospects to a crypto theft involving a sufferer reportedly giving fraudsters a large money deposit price tens of millions of {dollars}.
Money-to-crypto ban to guard buyers?
The police raid on Mosca got here the subsequent day after Evgeny Masharov, a member of the Russian Civic Chamber, proposed banning crypto exchangers from accepting money from their prospects to purchase cryptocurrencies like Tether USDt (USDT).
A possible ban on cash-to-crypto transactions can be a “huge blow to fraudsters,” Masharov stated, including that telephone scammers had been “typically utilizing crypto exchangers for withdrawing money funds.”
Subsequently, native information channel Baza reported on the Mosca raid, linking the occasion with a “record-breaking fraud” in opposition to Olga Serova, a former authorities adviser in Russia’s Samara area.
Serova, 71, reportedly fell sufferer to scammers in late 2024, cashing out her financial institution accounts to go the fraudsters about 421 million Russian rubles ($5.1 million). In accordance with Baza, no less than seven folks had been arrested, allegedly in reference to the case.
Mosca shoppers should purchase as much as 100,000 USDT with money day by day
Mosca, which permits buyers to deposit as much as 100,000 USDT ($100,000) day by day, was unaware whether or not Serova’s incident was linked to its workplace raid, Titarenko stated.
“Perhaps it was one other consumer,” he stated, including that the raid was the primary criminal-case-related workplace raid at Mosca prior to now three months.
Titarenko additionally stated that Mosca has been actively beefing up its Anti-Cash Laundering and Know Your Buyer checks, together with sustaining a blacklist of suspicious customers.
Associated: Russia’s central financial institution, finance ministry to launch crypto alternate
The raid caught Mosca throughout a significant native occasion, Blockchain Life, returning to Moscow for the primary time since October 2021. The corporate was one of many primary company on the convention, taking two heart stands and successful a title of the “finest crypto alternate service.”
In accordance with Sergey Mendeleev, a distinguished determine within the Russian crypto group, the proposal to ban cash-to-crypto transactions is an alarming growth for the group.
Talking on the occasion, Mendeleev prompt that the Russian authorities is perhaps turning away from crypto adoption if it approves such a ban.
He additionally talked about that raids are a standard scenario for crypto alternate companies situated on the Moscow Worldwide Enterprise Heart, also called Moscow Metropolis.
Garantex, a crypto alternate that halted buying and selling after Tether froze $27 million in USDT attributable to sanctions, was additionally among the many exchangers situated in Moscow Metropolis.
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