Russia Shuts Down 9 Crypto Exchanges in Moscow Over Alleged Fraud-Linked Laundering

The Interior Ministry has opened a criminal investigation into large-scale fraud and is continuing to identify victims and evaluate possible compensation, BitKE reported.

Under Russian crypto law, those who organize or facilitate crypto transactions without registering with the central bank can face criminal penalties, including fines of up to roughly $4,000 and prison terms of up to four years for basic violations. Harsher punishments have been proposed for large-scale offenses or cases involving organized groups, with potential terms of up to seven years in prison or compulsory labor for up to five years.

Separately, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned an individual and two cryptocurrency exchanges that it said facilitated money laundering involving a combined $5 million in digital assets linked to Iran, Cointelegraph reported.

An attacker chained six flaws to credit a pool with tens of millions of unfunded CACAO tokens, draining real assets and forcing MAYAChain to halt its network.