U.S. Government Imposes Sanctions on Russian Crypto Platforms Linked to Money Laundering

The US government has imposed sanctions on two cryptocurrency exchanges and two individuals for allegedly being involved in Russian illicit finance.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has investigated Russian cryptocurrency exchange PM2BTC and its
It designated Sergey Ivanov, who is associated with the exchange, as a "major money laundering concern."
At the same time, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took control of Ivanov and another cryptocurrency exchange, Cryptex.
The action was taken in cooperation with the Departments of Treasury, Justice and State, as well as foreign law enforcement agencies. PM2BTC has been known to process proceeds from ransomware attacks and other illegal activities.
According to FinCEN, half of the exchange's activity is related to illegal operations. According to Chainalysis, PM2BTC is an underground payment processing system.
It shares its wallet infrastructure with UAPS (Universal Anonymous Payment System), a payment system that uses PayPal.
Kryptox is registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines but advertises in Russian.
"Cryptox is associated with services frequently used by Russia-based ransomware attackers and cybercriminals, including:
"This includes scam stores, mixing services, exchanges with no KYC programs, and the OFAC-sanctioned Garantex cryptocurrency exchange."