According to CryptoPotato, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has stepped up sanctions against individuals and entities in Russia’s financial services and technology sectors, especially those involved in virtual assets, to prevent them from circumventing U.S. sanctions. OFAC said these individuals and entities played a key role in facilitating transactions or providing services designed to help other sanctioned entities circumvent U.S. sanctions. According to an official statement, OFAC imposed sanctions on 13 entities and 2 individuals in the Russian economy, financial services and technology sectors. In addition, five entities have been placed on the sanctions list due to their ties to individuals previously designated by OFAC. Companies sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury include Moscow-based fintech companies B-Crypto, Masterchain, Atomaiz, Veb3 Tekhnologii and Veb3 Integrator, as well as Cyprus-based Tokentrust, which holds a majority stake in Atomaiz. Notably, Atomaiz, controlled by Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin’s Interros Holding investment group, received Russia’s first government license to issue and exchange digital financial assets in February 2022, only to be hacked in Russia Three weeks ago in Ukraine.