Last week, on August 31, all crypto ATMs belonging to the company BBFpro were seized by the police without explanation.
Until last Friday, the Russian Federation ranked fifth in the world in terms of the number of operating crypto ATMs (79 terminals). However, Russian police officers made their own adjustments to this rating, seizing almost a third of the total number of crypto terminals in one day. Moreover, all terminals belong to the network of the BBFpro company, one of the largest in Russia.
The company has not received any warnings or requests from regulators. I also received no official explanation from the police themselves. Only in an oral statement did police representatives note that the seizure of the terminals was being carried out for verification, based on a request from the Central Bank of Russia to the Prosecutor General's Office, presumably for six months.
The Central Bank did not make an official statement regarding a specific seizure, limiting itself to a reminder of carrying out systematic work to combat illegal activities in the financial market.
Such actions by regulators caused bewilderment of the lawyer representing the interests of the company. In his opinion, the company did not violate the current legislation, due to the fact that there are simply no restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions. The BBFpro company operates officially on the Russian market, pays taxes and does not fall under the definition of anonymous cross-border money transfers. The company's terminals provide a client verification procedure. The current cryptocurrency exchange rate is calculated based on data from the EXMO exchange, and a commission of 6 percent for cryptocurrency transactions is included in the company’s tax base. All information that is of interest to law enforcement agencies and the Central Bank is available on the company’s website.
Despite the absence of legal reasons, by Friday afternoon, 22 terminals located in shopping centers, bars and shops in nine large cities were seized. The company is now assessing the financial and reputational damage caused to it and plans to appeal against what its lawyers consider illegal actions of regulators.
You May Also Like
New US bill proposes not to consider cryptocurrencies as securities
On December 20, two US congressmen submitted a bill to the House of Representatives, according to which cryptocurrencies would not be considered securities. The "Token Classification Act of 2018" was introduced by Warren Davidson and Darren Soto and calls for excluding digital currencies from the definition of securities by amending the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
The IMF again criticized the legalization of Bitcoin in El Salvador
In the report, El Salvador: 2021 Article IV Mission Staff Final Statement, the IMF praised El Salvador's efforts to promote "financial inclusion and growth" but criticized the tool the country's government is using to achieve this goal.
