Share this article
US Treasury Department Says Cryptocurrencies Could Undermine Sanctions
The agency issued the warning after a six-month review of U.S. sanction programs and recommended the agency itself improve communication with financial institutions and others that touch on the crypto sector.
By James Rubin
Updated May 11, 2023, 6:01 p.m. Published Oct 18, 2021, 11:00 p.m.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in a report that cryptocurrencies could undermine the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions.
- The report was released Monday. It followed a six-month review of U.S. sanctions against countries with which it is at odds or suspects of being behind illegal activity.
- The report noted that “digital currencies, alternative payment platforms and new ways of hiding cross-border transactions all potentially reduce the efficacy of American sanctions.”
- “These technologies offer malign actors opportunities to hold and transfer funds outside the traditional dollar-based financial system,” the report said, and could be used by adversaries “to to build new financial and payments systems intended to diminish the dollar’s global role.”
- The U.S. has put over 9,000 sanctions in place against countries it alleges are behind terrorism and illegal actions or committed human rights violations, including North Korea and Iran, according to a New York Times story.
- The report recommended the Treasury Dept. enhance its “institutional knowledge” of cryptocurrencies and their use.
- It also recommended the agency improve its communications with industry organizations, financial institutions and others that touch on the crypto sector.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Crypto’s Machine Learning ‘iPhone Moment’ Comes Closer as AI Agents Trade the Market
Recall Labs, a firm that has run 20 or so AI trading arenas, pitted foundational large language models (LLMs) against customized trading agents.
What to know:
- Specially customized AI trading tools outperformed LLMs such as GPT-5, DeepSeek and Gemini Pro.
- Rather than simply using profit and loss to measure success, AI agents balance risk and reward when faced with a multitude of market conditions.
- As in TradFi, hedge funds and family offices with the resources to invest in the development of custom AI trading tools will be first to reap the rewards.
Top Stories
