Stop Your Crypto Operations in Russia, Washington Tells Japanese Exchanges & Miners

cryptonews.com:

Washington wants Japanese regulators to convince domestic crypto exchanges and miners to cut all ties with Russia, per a new report.

The Financial Times claimed that American “diplomats” believe “several” Japanese crypto exchanges are “still running in Russia,” according to unnamed “people close to the situation.”

The diplomats reportedly want Japanese miners to pull the plug on the crypto mining operations they are operating in the Irkutsk Oblast in Southern Siberia, according to “two people familiar with the matter.”

Irkutsk has become a hotspot for miners both domestic and international in recent times, with activity stepping up after China’s mining crackdown last year.

A number of major Japanese players from a variety of sectors have invested heavily in overseas crypto mining operations – due mainly to the prohibitively high costs of mining in Japan.

Although most Japanese operators have kept the exact location of their overseas mining operations a secret, a number of East Asian investors are known to have established mining centers in Central Asia, with some thought to be working in Siberia.

As previously reported, back in March, both Japan’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), and the Ministry of Finance told the country’s exchanges to suspend all transactions with sanctioned Russians and Belarusians.

But Washington now wants exchanges to go a step further – and cease all Russia-related operations.

Cryptonews.com spoke to an employee at a Japanese exchange who, on condition of anonymity, stated that they were aware of an American request, but added that their firm had no dealings with Russian clients.

The same employee opined that this would likely be a bigger issue for crypto miners, who had spent