The Swiss government has said it will freeze Russian cryptocurrency assets within its borders, Bitcoinist reported.
That will include those held by corporate entities and billionaires, according to reports on Saturday (March 5). The finance minister said 223 Russian oligarchs and others close to Russian President Vladimir Putin have had their bank accounts frozen.
Switzerland's federal council said it wants to match the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia for invading Ukraine, but adds a special clause for crypto assets, according to the report.
Meanwhile, China says it continues to crack down on crypto speculation, another Bloomberg report noted.
The country cracked down on cryptocurrency trading and mining last year, and as a result, bitcoin trading accounted for just 10% of the global total, down from 90% before China's restrictions.
Additionally, Japan's financial regulator and cryptocurrency industry body have begun discussing how to effectively sanction Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg said on Sunday (March 6).
The Japan Financial Services Agency and the Crypto and Virtual Asset Exchange Association have been seeking ways to block crypto transfers involving individuals and entities on the country's sanctions list.
There is currently no proposal to close all access to Russian customers.
In other news, cryptocurrency scammers are turning their attention to Ukraine supporters, The Wall Street Journal wrote.
Various schemes attempt to trick donors into sending crypto to scammers, under the guise of supporting the beleaguered country.
Meanwhile, South Korean crypto exchanges are banning IP addresses of users from Russia, a Coinspeaker report said on Friday (March 4).
Upbit, the largest crypto exchange in that country, said it would, along with others such as Buthumb, Korbit and Gopax.
In other crypto news, the value of bitcoin lost momentum last week after overbought conditions appeared, Coindesk wrote on Friday. The price seemed to stabilize around a support level of $37,000 to $40,000.
Meanwhile, energy theft in Malaysia for crypto mining is a new issue that has been seeing more activity, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Tenaga Nasional, the national utility company, is proposing a special fee for bitcoin mining operators to help control the problem, as well as proposing that the Energy Commission encourage miners to apply for the legal supply of electricity.
Furthermore, the sustainability of cryptocurrencies as a safe haven is not holding up well after various digital alternatives to fiat currency were advocated in the wake of Russia's attacks on Ukraine, Bloomberg said.
Bitcoin surged last week and briefly broke above $45,000 on speculation that the Russians would invest in crypto to circumvent sanctions, that doesn't appear to have happened yet.
