The US will still have an impact on Russia with its sanctions despite the rise of cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies (CBDC) like digital ruble. US Deputy Treasury Secretary, Wally Adeyemo, told CNBC that economic sanctions will still have tangible consequences "simply because the global economy is still inter-connected."
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"We believe that even if a digital ruble or other digital currencies come into place, there will still be scope for our sanctions to have an impact on their economies simply because the global economy is still inter-connected," Adeyemo said.
Adeyemo explained that many Russian companies "still do a great deal of business around the world" and lot of that business is done in dollars. This dependence on the dollar means the currency will remain the dominant one in the world:
"As our economy grows, it is an opportunity for the global economy to grow and as that happens, the dollar will remain the dominant currency in the world as well."
Earlier in September, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed economic sanctions on SUEX, an OTC exchange from Russia, for facilitating ransom payments. OFAC considers exchanges like SUEX as critical component to the profitability of ransomware attacks. These platforms support funding additional cybercriminal activity, the agency said.
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