U.S. Treasury official sees modest uptick in crypto illicit finance, but transactions small

FILE PHOTO: A representations of cryptocurrencies in this illustration taken, January 24, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials have observed an uptick in the use of digital assets to facilitate illicit finance since Russia invaded Ukraine, but the transaction volume is too small to play a big role in helping Moscow evade sweeping sanctions, a senior Treasury official said on Friday.

Nellie Liang, Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance, said the current state of digital assets would not be large enough to run an economy on, and that the ecosystem is too underdeveloped for individuals to effectively evade sanctions using such assets.