BitWell Responds to the U.S. DoJ’s Prosecution for Helping Russians Hide Assets: No Personal Data Will Be Provided
Tortola, British Virgin Islands–(Newsfile Corp. – March 26, 2022) – Recently, in response to the US Department of Justice’s statement that it will prosecute banks and cryptocurrency exchanges for helping Russians hide their assets, BitWell, the world’s leading growth asset trading platform, said that no personal data of users will be provided to the US Department of Justice.
Previously, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the US Department of Justice have made several announcements to restrict the use of cryptocurrencies by wealthy Russians to evade economic sanctions, and have set up relevant investigation units. Not only targeting Russian tycoons, on March 12, the DOJ also said it would prosecute banks and cryptocurrency exchanges that help Russians hide their assets.
“The Department of Justice will use all of its powers to seize the assets of individuals and businesses that violate sanctions,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland, “We will spare no effort to investigate, arrest and prosecute these crimes, and will use all tools to freeze and confiscate the proceeds of crime.”
OFAC and the US Department of Justice said that cryptocurrency exchanges need to take measures to ensure that Russians cannot make transactions. Any U.S. person, cryptocurrency exchange, cryptocurrency wallet, or other service provider are prohibited from providing services, including digital and traditional assets, to the Russian authorities, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Finance, or the Russian National Wealth Fund. And companies or individuals determined to be complicit for directly or indirectly attempting to assist Russia in circumventing US sanctions will also be sanctioned.
In this regard, Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange, noted that all US companies must comply with the law. It does not matter whether it involves US dollars, cryptocurrencies, gold, real estate or even non-financial assets, the sanctions law applies to all US individuals and businesses. Coinbase has currently blocked over 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals or entities.
In response to the US Department of Justice’s lawsuit, BitWell said, “BitWell upholds the principle of privacy and inviolability of private assets and will not allow the legitimate rights of ordinary Russian users to be unjustifiably plundered. Also, the platform will continue to uphold the principles of privacy, fairness and freedom and will not freeze the assets of any Russian user or provide any personal data to the US Department of Justice.”
With the recent influx of ordinary Russian users under sanctions coming to BitWell to register and trade, BitWell has announced that it will waive transaction fees for all users in Russia during the war, and a Russian language version will be available as soon as possible with exclusive customer support services.
Contact:
BitWell Technology Limited
Luke, Media Director
Operation(at)bitwellex.com
+65 8942 5952
3rd Floor, J&C Building, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands,VG1110
To view the source version of this press release, please visit http://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118272
