A new Elliptic report states that digital asset platforms with Russian roots continue to ignore international restrictions.
Growing regulatory pressure fails to stop offshore services from processing massive trading volumes for sanctioned individuals. The scheme allows cashing out funds through foreign brokers.
Bitpapa
The peer-to-peer platform Bitpapa is registered in the UAE but primarily serves the Russian segment.
OFAC blacklisted the service in the spring of 2024 for facilitating sanctions evasion. The platform routes 9.7% of transactions to sanctioned individuals, masking tracks by changing addresses regularly.
ABCeX
The ABCeX platform supports order book trading while operating out of the former Moscow office of Garantex.
The team employs complex transaction obfuscation strategies to hide the direct connection of wallets to their infrastructure. The platform processed assets worth $11 B, with a significant portion going to sanctioned entities.
Exmo
On-chain data refutes statements from Exmo management about selling the regional business to the Exmo.me division. Both platforms share a single custodial infrastructure.
The lack of genuine separation allows mixing Russian segment assets with the pools of the Western legal entity. The volume of direct transactions with sanctioned counterparties exceeded $19.5 M.
Rapira
The Georgian exchange Rapira maintains a representative office in Moscow, where administrators organize trading in ruble pairs. Transfer volumes to the accounts of the blocked Grinex platform reached $72 M.
Law enforcement agencies recently conducted searches at the Moscow office of the service in connection with a capital flight case.
Aifory Pro
The Aifory Pro project specializes in over-the-counter trading, acting as a payment agent to service Asian flows.
The service openly issues virtual cards for paying foreign subscriptions. Transfers to the Iranian exchange Abantether amounting to $2 M create an additional high-risk marker.