UK forces crypto exchanges to report suspected sanction breaches

New rules in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine cover all notionally valuable digital assets

Crypto exchanges must report suspected sanctions breaches to UK authorities under new rules brought in amid concerns that bitcoin and other cryptoassets are being used to dodge restrictions imposed in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Official guidance was updated on 30 August to explicitly include cryptoassets" among those that must be frozen if sanctions are imposed on a person or company. As well as digital currencies, such as bitcoin, ether and tether, cryptoassets could include other notionally valuable digital assets such as non-fungible tokens.