Russia recently launched an attack on Ukraine, which led to the U.S. taking a stance against Russian entities, businesses, and influential individuals. This inadvertently put a target on the backs of Russian Oligarchs- a number of wealthy Russian individuals who accumulated wealth following the fall of the Soviet Union. Blocking statutes and sanctions were placed on their foreign properties, yachts, and other assets, after which other countries started following suit and implementing their own sanctions.
These Oligarchs are open supporters of the Russian government’s violent policies and are known to use their wealth to fund military operations and other questionable activities, such as helping fund the invasion of Ukraine. After the rest of the world began to impose sanctions and attempt to cut off Russia from any financial communication, the Oligarchs began to look for alternate ways to move their funds and stay under the radar.
Oligarchs and Cryptocurrency
One way for Oligarchs to move their funds without going through formal procedures and risk detection was by using cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is a virtual currency that exists on blockchains and can be transacted in without the involvement of any central or regulatory authorities (unlike fiat currency like paper money or the country’s local currency, which is regulated by the country’s central banking authority).
Since the cryptocurrency space is still quite unregulated, anyone can create an account, invest in crypto, and trade without going through intensive background checks that they would have to comply with if they were opening a bank account. Hence, once the sanctions started coming in, Oligarchs began to move their money out of Russia using cryptocurrencies.
What is Atomyze?
Due to the dubious nature of the Oligarch’s financial activities, possible terror funding, and the shockwaves of the Ukraine attack, using the words ‘oligarch’ and ‘cryptocurrency’ in the same sentence is bound to raise some alarms.
Many crypto exchanges were ordered to put regulations in place and keep a close eye on transactions coming in and out of Russia or having possible links to Oligarchs hiding abroad.
However, one Oligarch decided to take matters into his own hands and create his own cryptocurrency firm- which is how Atomyze was born. Atomyze is Russia’s first government-backed cryptocurrency firm and is a platform for tokenizing commodities (namely, precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, nickel, palladium, and more) against digital assets. It works in collaboration with the Russian smelting company Nornickel, also owned by Potanin.
Atomyze was founded by Vladimir Potanin, an Oligarch with strong ties to President Vladimir Putin and considerable political power. Potanin is a strong competitor for the title of Russia’s richest person and has been nicknamed the ‘nickel king’ thanks to his prosperous smelting business.
Interestingly, Atomyze was approved as a digital assets operator just months before Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The timing and the nature of the company being cryptocurrency- the very tool that sanctioned Oligarchs were using to carry out their nefarious activities- definitely raised red flags. This, along with the fact that Potanin was one of the Oligarchs that was ultimately sanctioned by the UK and the US, didn’t do much to help matters for the firm’s reputation.
Atomyze is currently headquartered in Switzerland and also runs operations in the United States. Though there is no indication that Potanin uses his firm to reroute his own wealth, Atomyze is under natural suspicion due to its connection with a sanctioned Russian Oligarch.
The Connection Between BBC and Atomyze
Being the national broadcast network for the entirety of the United Kingdom, the British Broadcasting Company, popularly known as the BBC, has some high standards to uphold. Imagine everyone’s shock and surprise when Richard Sharp, the chairman of the BBC, was named as an early investor in the Russian cryptocurrency firm Atomyze.
This news came to light after the sanctions were placed on the offending Oligarchs and did cause outrage. However, a spokesperson for Sharp cleared the air by stating that Sharp invested in the digital assets firm long before the onset of Russia’s deplorable invasion of Ukraine and purely did so due to interest in the realm of cryptocurrency.
The investment was apparently done in 2019 as a part of early investment calls, when there were no sanctions against Potanin. Sharp- a former banker at Goldman Sachs- invested the money through a blind trust operated by a third party- ABCP GP Ltd, a company based in the Cayman Islands.
The use of a blind trust is reportedly to invest in ideas that Sharp is interested in, including new and upcoming technologies like cryptocurrency and blockchain, as well as avoid conflicts or personal interests at the same time. Sharp was an early investor in the firm and remained so after being appointed BBC chairman in February 2021. The trust continues to handle Sharp’s investments in Atomyze Switzerland at its own disposition, without the involvement of Sharp himself.
Sharp has taken the stance that he has no personal connection or interests with Vladimir Potanin and his firm, and his money was simply invested in the firm due to matching technological interests and curiosity.
Conclusion
Richard Sharp, the chairman of BBC, was recently linked to the Russian cryptocurrency firm Atomyze, which is owned by sanctioned Russian Oligarch Vladimir Potanin. Potanin has strong connections with Putin and was allegedly one of the allies he called up to the Kremlin during the Ukraine invasion.
However, despite allegations against him for scheming with the enemy, Sharp swiftly cleared that he invested early on in 2019, before the onset of the war and implementation of sanctions, and that his investment was done purely due to interest in the firm’s domain. His investments are handled by a blind trust based in the Cayman Islands, which operates without his discretion, hence clearing Sharp of having any personal interest or relationship with Potanin.
