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Russians liquidate billions in crypto to save their fortunes

Russians are flooding cryptocurrency firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with requests to liquidate billions of dollars in a desperate attempt to save their fortunes, company executives and financial sources told Reuters.

Some of them want to buy real estate in the UAE, while others want to convert it into fiat and hide it elsewhere, insiders reported.

Russians are concerned Switzerland will freeze their assets

One crypto firm received quite a number of requests from Swiss brokers, asking to liquidate billions in Bitcoin because their clients are concerned Switzerland might freeze the funds. According to a representative of the firm, all of the requests were for $2 billion or more. They added:

We’ve had like five or six in the past two weeks. None of them have come off yet – they’ve sort of fallen over at the last minute, which is not rare – but we’ve never had this much interest. We have one guy – I don’t know who he is, but he came through a broker – and they’re like, ‚we want to sell 125,000 bitcoin‘. And I’m like, ‚what? That’s $6 billion guys‘. And they’re like, ‚yeah, we’re going to send it to a company in Australia‚.

UAE is seen as a safe haven

The UAE has refused to side with either the West or Russia, leading Russians to believe their money is safe there. According to real estate brokers, a lot of Russians and some Belarusians have been coming to Dubai and bringing their funds with them, including in crypto.

Sources in the UAE confirmed that Russians are purchasing real estate in Dubai. They are using crypto to get their resources into the UAE and out of other regions.

Crypto exchanges blocking Russian accounts

Albeit details being few and far between, cryptocurrency exchanges have said they are blocking the accounts of sanctioned Russians. Binance and Coinbase are taking measures to ensure crypto is not used to circumvent sanctions and are cooperating with law enforcement on this issue.

However, crypto still offers a high degree of anonymity. Germany, Estonia, and other European countries have asked for stricter oversight to eliminate any loopholes that could allow Russians to evade sanctions.

The post Russians liquidate billions in crypto to save their fortunes appeared first on Coin Journal.

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SEC rejects NYDIG, Global X spot Bitcoin ETF proposals

SEC’s latest move adds to a string of others seen over the years, with the US market’s wait for a spot Bitcoin ETF set to go on.

The US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again rejected applications seeking to list spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US market.

In its latest move, the securities watchdog has denied the NYDIG Spot Bitcoin ETF and the Global X Bitcoin Trust applications.

The two funds sought to list and trade physically settled Bitcoin ETFs. However, filings dated 10th March 2022 now put all that into an expanding basket of rejected applications.

And with it, another shot at having the regulator allow a spot BTC product has ended- at least for now (other proposals are pending the SEC’s decision).

SEC’s argument is…

NYDIG filed an application to list the spot Bitcoin ETF on NYSE Arca, Inc. on 30th June 2021, while Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. filed Global X’s proposal on 30 August 2021.

The SEC’s orders disapproving the applications cite issues around fraud and manipulative acts, noting that the rejections are merited in the interest of protecting consumers and “public interest.”

In 2021, the regulator approved the first of two Bitcoin futures ETFs. The move saw the crypto industry’s excitement towards a spot ETF rise. But in the period since the ProShares and Valkyrie ETFs, the SEC has disapproved applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs by Van Eck, Fidelity, Wisdom Tree, and First Trust.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF proposal is pending the regulator’s decision.

The post SEC rejects NYDIG, Global X spot Bitcoin ETF proposals appeared first on Coin Journal.