GAO Highlights U.S. Agencies’ Efforts to Mitigate Risks Posed to Economic Sanctions by Digital Assets

                On December 13, 2024, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on the Use of Digital Assets to Evade U.S. Sanctions.  The GAO found that digital assets and other virtual currencies pose risks to implementing and enforcing U.S. sanctions.  A principal element of digital assets is that they enable their users to quickly transfer value worldwide.  On the one hand, many digital assets are recorded on a public ledger, which may enable U.S. agencies and analytics firms to trace transactions and potentially identify illicit actors.  However, digital asset owners also use the anonymizing features of some digital assets or other techniques that obscure their identities in an effort to evade sanctions.