How Cryptocurrency Turns to Cash in Russian Banks
Summary: Blockchain investigator Richard Sanders found that all 122 cybercrime services he tested - including bulletproof hosts, account sellers, proxy and SMS providers - process payments through Cryptomus, a Vancouver-registered crypto payment platform whose parent Xeltox Enterprises is listed with FINTRAC. Sanders' data also shows at least 56 Russian-language crypto exchanges using Cryptomus to swap cryptocurrency for cash at sanctioned Russian banks, and the platform's registered address at 422 Richards St. is shared by at least 76 foreign currency dealers, eight MSBs and six crypto exchanges, none of which are physically located there.
What you should know: After Binance and OKX cut off sanctioned Russian banks in August 2023, Sanders says the exchanges he tracked simply moved to Cryptomus, which generates a new wallet per order and imposes no KYC - so the sanctions pushed Russian instant exchanges onto a platform that makes attribution require high-fee transactions each time.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
- Cybercrime & Law Enforcement
- Related
- Gootloader Malware Disrupted After Infecting 25,000 Computers Cyber Risks · Nov 13, 2026354 dark web vendors and buyers arrested in Operation Tor Nado Cyber Risks · Nov 13, 2026Law Enforcement Disrupts Gootloader, CastleRAT, and StealC Infrastructure Cyber Risks · Nov 13, 2026