The former chief executive of Binance in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Vladimir Smerkis, says Russian cryptocurrency users can expect the United States to continue to attempt to apply more and more sanctions pressures on them.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, announced in September that due to Western sanctions, it was being forced to sell its Russian business. The news came as the United States Department of Justice was conducting an investigation into whether Russian customers were able to access the exchange, which would have violated US sanctions on the Kremlin.

On Wednesday, Smerkis, speaking at a crypto meeting, said the US would now ramp up pressures on other major exchanges such as OKX, ByBit, and KuCoin, looking to force them to exit the Russian market as well.

Smerkis noted that one problem was the inherent transparency of the cryptocurrency market, where all interactions with exchanges which could be violations of sanctions are recorded, creating an auditable trail which could cause trouble for users later on.

Smerkis said that in this environment, Russian cryptocurrency users should store their digital assets in cryptocurrency wallets instead of on exchanges. In addition, users should only utilize decentralized exchanges, which are not required to operate under the jurisdiction of any specific nation.