SBI Holdings, a Japanese securities and banking giant, has ended its mining operations in Russia and cut ties with the sanctioned Russian bitcoin miner BitRiver.
SBI Holdings had previously kept its connection to BitRiver private. It is now the second firm to cut ties with BitRiver, CoinDesk reported. Compass Mining, based in Texas, was the first.
SBI Holdings “withdrew” from mining business with Russia, the company said in its August 15 earnings report. CoinDesk later revealed that this meant ending a private relationship with BitRiver, a Russian bitcoin miner that was sanctioned by the United States in April of this year.
The Japanese bank’s crypto arm, SBI Crypto, had hosted bitcoin mining operations at BitRiver’s sites, CoinDesk reported. But with U.S. sanctions against the Russian miners, SBI is attempting to sell off its mining equipment in BitRiver’s Russian sites
The US sanctioned BitRiver in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. BitRiver is one of the largest crypto mining firms in Russia, with ties to the Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska, The Block previously reported.
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About Author
MK Manoylov is a reporter for The Block covering NFTs, blockchain-based gaming and cybercrime. MK holds a graduate degree from New York University’s Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP).
Source: https://www.theblock.co/post/165820/sbi-ends-previously-unknown-deal-with-sanctioned-russian-bitcoin-miner-bitriver-coindesk?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss