Sanctions Push Russian Money into Kyrgyz Crypto Markets

There are signs that western measures and a domestic crackdown on Kyrgyzstan’s traditional banking sector are starting to bite, hindering Russian efforts to evade sanctions. Yet, booming transactions of a Kyrgyzstan-registered, ruble-linked cryptocurrency on a Kyrgyz exchange this spring indicate that sanctions-busters are still very active in the Central Asian nation. Russian entrepreneurs have complained in recent months that their transactions have grown more expensive or slowed after the United States and United Kingdom sanctioned a Kyrgyz…