Today in Crypto: Switzerland Freezes Russian Crypto Assets; China Continues Crypto Crackdown

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The government of Switzerland said it will freeze Russian cryptocurrency assets within its borders, Bitcoinist reported.

That will include those held by corporate entities and billionaires, according to reports Saturday (March 5). The finance minister said 223 Russian oligarchs and others close to Russian President Vladimir Putin have had their bank accounts frozen.

Switzerland’s federal council said it wants to match the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia for invading Ukraine, but add a special clause for crypto assets, according to the report.

Meanwhile, China says it’s continuing its crackdown on crypto speculation, another Bloomberg report noted.

The country carried out a comprehensive crackdown on crypto trading and mining last year, and as a result bitcoin trading there was just 10% of the world total, down from 90% before China’s  restrictions.

Also, Japan’s financial regulator and the cryptocurrency industry body have begun to discuss how to effectively sanction Russia over the Ukraine invasion, Bloomberg said Sunday (March 6).

The Financial Services Agency and Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association have been looking into ways to block crypto transfers involving people and entities on the country’s sanctions list.

There’s not currently any proposal to shut off all access for Russian clients.

In other news, cryptocurrency fraudsters are turning their attention to supporters of Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal wrote.

Several schemes try to trick donors into sending crypto to fraudsters, under a guise of supporting the besieged country.

Meanwhile, South Korean crypto exchanges are banning IP addresses of Russia users, a Coinspeaker report said Friday (March 4).

Upbit, the biggest crypto exchange from that country, said it was doing so, along with others like Buthumb, Korbit and Gopax.

In other crypto-related news, bitcoin value lost momentum last week after overbought conditions appeared, Coindesk wrote Friday. The price appeared to stabilize around a support level of  $37,000 to $40,000.

Meanwhile, power theft in Malaysia for crypto mining is a new issue that has been seeing more activity, a report from Bloomberg said.

Tenaga Nasional, the national utility, is proposing a special tariff for bitcoin mining operators to help get the problem under control, as well as proposing that the Energy Commission encourage miners to apply for the legal electricity supply.

Also, crypto’s sustainability as a refuge isn’t holding up well after several digital alternatives to fiat were championed in the wake of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, Bloomberg said.

Bitcoin surged last week and briefly got above $45,000 because of speculation that Russians would invest in crypto to skirt sanctions, that hasn’t seemed to happen yet.