In order to circumvent sanctions against Russia, a cryptocurrency fund may be established in Crimea, where a high-ranking Russian legislator has also discussed establishing a so-called “cryptocurrency haven.”
Authorities in Crimea, which has, since 2014, been administered as part of the Russian Federation by a government that enjoys little international recognition[1], are considering allowing the establishment of a cryptocurrency fund that would enable foreigners to send investments into the region in spite of sanctions on Russia.
According to a report[2] by Russian state media outlet Tass, Georgy Muradov, the vice premier of the Crimean government and permanent representative of Crimea under the President of the Russian Federation, said that the fund would accept investments in the form of cryptocurrency. Those cryptocurrencies could then be exchanged for fiat money and used to finance projects on the peninsula.
On April 18, he told reporters:
"By the way, we are discussing these schemes of circumvention of sanctions. One of the ways is the creation of a crypto-currency investment fund in the Crimea where we can accumulate crypto-currency resources, transfer them into ordinary money and then use them to implement certain investment projects in the Crimean land."
Another news platform, Arguments of the Week - Crimea, quotes[3] him as saying that cryptocurrency "is a way of avoiding settlements in US dollars, euros, from currency restrictions with respect to Crimea."
The following day, Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the Committee on the Financial Market in Russia's lower legislative chamber, the State Duma, appeared at the ongoing Yalta International Economic Forum in Crimea, where he related[4] that cryptocurrency exchanges and ICOs might be permitted in the contested jurisdiction. Investments in these ICOs would, however,
