Crimean Gov't Considers Crypto Fund To Attract Foreign Investment, Avoid Sanctions

The Crimean government is considering the possibility of creating a cryptocurrency fund for foreign investors in order to avoid sanctions, local meda TASS reported April 18.

"We are discussing ways to avoid sanctions. One of these methods is the creation of a cryptocurrency investment fund in Crimea where we will accumulate cryptocurrency resources, transfer them to normal money, and then use them for the realization of any kind of investment projects on Crimean soil."

Muradov said that the subject would be brought up during the Yalta International Economic Forum, and that foreign investment in the Crimean economy will be one of the key points of discussion.

Muradov added that throughout the course of the conference, they hope to secure ten investment agreements between various foreign and Crimean companies.

Organizers say that 3,000 people from 60 countries are taking part.

Earlier this week, the Russian government blocked the crypto community's favored messenger app Telegram.

In order to enforce the ban, communications authority Roskomnadzor blocked nearly 20 mln IP addresses.

Despite all efforts by the government to disable the app within Russia, most users report that it is functioning without applying additional means to circumvent the block, like proxy or VPN services.

Dozens of other websites are down as a result of Roskomnadzor's IP blocking.

Xbox Live, Microsoft updates, and even the very website of Roskomnadzor experienced crashes.