Anti-Fraud
The war or Russia is not only costing money, lives, and more, but costing them geopolitically with sanctions from their biggest trading partners like the U.S and other European countries. Adding fuel to the fire, Russia may be facing a prospective default. Indeed, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Wednesday that it is up to the U.S. to decide whether interest payments on two dollar-denominated Eurobonds go through. One example of sanctions power over Russia’s ability to repay includes the move to effectively freeze the Central Bank of Russia’s $630 billion foreign reserve stockpile. In the private sector, Russia’s troubles aren’t over, with Russian assets viewed as toxic and highly unstable by many market participants.
These sanctions have gone both ways, however, placing pressure on European countries as well as the US. In addition to soaring gas prices across the world, inflation has become a prominent issue. Russia – who still bears the heaviest financial burden from sanctions – has made moves to avoid them using fintech apps and other routes. Despite this, fintech startups have fought back – with companies like Revolut who tackling online fraud raising $94 million. Revolut is working to develop new tools for preventing sanction evasion by Russia. These tools could help detect if someone is creating fake companies as vessels to launder money or a fake identity to hide assets. What do you think about fintech startups working against Russia’s schemes? And will they be successful?
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.