USDKG, the issuer subject to sanctions, became “EVA” two days later

According to data from the Ministry of Justice, the legal entity was re-registered as early as May 28. Instead of OJSC “Virtual Asset Issuer,” the company is now registered as OJSC “EVA”—essentially an abbreviation of the former name.

Whether this is a coincidence or not, no official explanation has been provided.

As a reminder, on May 26, the United Kingdom added OJSC “Virtual Asset Issuer” to its sanctions list as part of its sanctions regime against Russia. London imposed an asset freeze on the company, restrictions on its management, trust services, and even special restrictions on internet services.

In justifying the sanctions, British authorities stated that they had “reasonable grounds to suspect” that the company benefits from the Russian government or provides it with support through activities of economic significance to the Russian Federation.

At that time, the issue concerned the state-owned issuer of the gold-backed USDKG stablecoin. The Ministry of Finance of Kyrgyzstan remains the sole founder of the company. This fact has not changed following the re-registration. The Ministry of Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic is still listed as the founder of OJSC “EVA.”

It is curious that only the name has changed. The registration number, TIN, OKPO code, and date of initial registration remain the same. That is, from a legal standpoint, this is not a new company, but the same organization after re-registration.

Will changing the name help avoid sanctions? Most likely not.

International sanctions are typically tied not so much to the organization’s name as to a specific legal entity, its registration details, owners, management, and control over assets. If the company remains the same entity with the same founder and the same details, a simple name change does not in itself revoke its sanction status.

So, the transformation of “Virtual Asset Issuer” into “EVA” will not cause British sanctions to lose their target.

However, it is possible that the re-registration has nothing to do with sanctions at all. It just so happened that the state-owned crypto company changed its name 48 hours after being added to the British sanctions list.