The official notice by the OFSI states, “Reporting obligations apply to relevant firms. Relevant firms are required to inform OFSI as soon as practicable if they know or reasonably suspect a person is a designated person or has committed an offence under financial sanctions regulations.”
UK’s Treasury Office Of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) amended its guidelines to force crypto exchanges to notify the firm about potential breaches of the sanctions imposed due to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The announcement came just a few days after Iran approved using crypto to settle import transactions to evade the sanctions imposed by the US government.
Before the amendments, OFSI’s reporting obligations only extended to accountants, jewelers, auditors, and fiat currency exchanges.
The updated guidelines released by the OFSI require all “cryptoasset exchange and custodial wallet providers” operating in the UK to report suspected sanction violations to the regulatory firm.
The rules also state that if any crypto exchange or wallet provider hides individuals suspected of partaking in sanction-related activities, it will be considered as committing a criminal offense.
This makes OFSI modification of its guidelines to prevent sanctions as another response to the invasion of Ukraine by the UK government. Similarly, Binance began blocking the accounts of Russian politicians and their relatives earlier this year.
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