Russia Raids Unregistered Crypto Exchanges, Detains Over 20 Employees

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has cracked down on nine unregistered crypto exchanges in Moscow City, detaining over 20 employees as part of an operation targeting alleged money laundering channels.

The FSB alleges that these exchanges converted stolen funds from Russian victims of phone scams into cryptocurrency and transferred them to accounts linked to Ukrainian handlers.

Authorities said young people from Russian regions were recruited to work at the exchanges despite having limited financial literacy, collecting cash from victims and delivering it to the exchanges for conversion into crypto.