Chainalysis launches screening tools to prevent sanctions evasion

This is amid fears that Russia might use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions due to its invasion in Ukraine.

Chainalysis offers new Sanctions-Screening tools for the Crypto Industry

As Ukraine's military conflict escalates, the west continues to increase sanctions against Russia. This includes targeting potential opportunities to use crypto assets to bypass the restrictions. Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics company, has announced two new tools for screening sanctions that are free to the industry.

These solutions will allow the developers of decentralized web3 protocol like DEXs, DAOs, and dapps as well as anyone who interacts with cryptocurrency to quickly validate that they're not interacting or storing cryptocurrency addresses associated with sanctioned entities.

An on-chain oracle for smart contracts is available. Users can call it from another smart deal to see if an address is listed on a sanction list. The Chainalysis is available on all EVM chains, including Ethereum, Avalanche and BSC, Polygon. Optimism, Arbitrum and Celo.

A web and mobile API is currently being developed. It is expected to be available in April. It will allow users to check if a cryptocurrency address has been added to a sanction list. As a reference, the Specially Designated Nationals List of U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (USDT) will be used.

Chainalysis claims that these tools are free and will enable crypto businesses and other organizations to quickly verify a crypto address and allow it to connect to their services and platforms. Other solutions are also offered by Chainalysis to reduce exposure to different risks arising from financial activities.

Since the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine, cryptocurrencies have been the focus of attention. The government of Kyiv, as well as NGOs in Ukraine, have increasingly relied on crypto donations to finance defense efforts and meet urgent humanitarian needs.

The Ukrainian government has also attempted to locate crypto wallets used to by Russian officials. Recently, the Ministry of Digital Transformation announced a partnership agreement with Crystal Blockchain to identify Russian cryptocurrency transactions that have violated sanctions. Major exchanges such as Binance and Kraken denied a request unilaterally to impose restrictions on Russian users.