Tag: Hydra Market

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has indicted Roman Pikulev, a/k/a Roman Boss, a Russian national, for his role in founding and operating Cryptonator, an unlicensed crypto exchange alleged to have processed over $235 million in illicit funds. According to the indictment, Pikulev and his associates ran Cryptonator from 2014 until March 2023 and operated as an international money laundering scheme, catering primarily to criminals.

Before Western sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine invasion began in February 2022, U.S. authorities were cracking down on the Russian crypto scene. Since the beginning of the new sanctions in 2022, the American approach against the Russian crypto scene, which is under general suspicion of money laundering and sanctions violations, has intensified and is bringing charges against Russian crypto schemes and their masterminds.