Deposits/withdrawals of funds and user access to QIWI electronic wallets were blocked almost immediately after the announcement of the decision of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The chief financial regulator explains that he decided to effectively liquidate the bank because QIWI violated laws regulating financial activities, as well as regulations of the Central Bank. Over the past year, sanctions have been applied to QIWI five times, including restrictions on monetary transactions.
If you believe the statement of the Central Bank, the administration of the financial institution “systematically committed violations of legislative requirements in the field of combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.”
“The activities of Qiwi Bank are characterized by involvement in high-risk transactions aimed at ensuring settlements between individuals and shadow businesses, including transfers of funds in favor of crypto exchangers, illegal online casinos, bookmakers, as well as the search for new ways to circumvent the restrictions imposed by the regulator,” – says the official announcement of the Central Bank.
There is an opinion among crypto market participants that the QIWI payment system has been losing popularity over the past five to six years. The reasons are listed by Nikita Zuborev, a senior analyst at the online exchangers aggregator Bestchange.ru, in an interview with RBC: local restrictions on operations by the authorities, deterioration of internal tariff policy, strengthening of the competitive advantages of p2p exchange platforms.
In January, the Bank of Russia announced plans to introduce controls over cross-border transfers related to the purchase of crypto assets.