The popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has addressed the request from Ukrainian officials to freeze the accounts of all Russian users. A Coinbase spokesperson noted that the digital currency platform would not “institute a blanket ban” against ordinary Russian users.
Coinbase, Coinberry and Kucoin follow Binance and Kraken’s decision to refuse to ‘sabotage ordinary Russian users’
On Tuesday, reports said the Russian invasion intensified after border peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials broke down. A 40-mile military convoy surrounds the capital of Kiev and reports show that “Kharkiv has become a key battleground”. Meanwhile, after Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister called on digital currency exchanges to “sabotage ordinary users”, a number of exchanges issued statements.
Bitcoin.com News reported on Binance and Kraken explaining that they will not blanket ban ordinary Russian users. Binance explained to CNBC that to “unilaterally decide to ban people’s access to their crypto would fly in the face of the reason why crypto exists.” Following the statements from Binance and Kraken, representatives from Coinbase, Coinberry, and Kucoin told vice.com contributor Maxwell Strachan how the three firms plan to handle such requests.
A spokesperson for Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), told Strachan that a request to ban all Russian customers would harm “economic freedom.” “At this time, we will not be instituting a blanket ban on all Coinbase transactions involving Russian addresses,” Coinbase said in an email sent to vice.com. “Instead, we will continue to implement any sanctions that have been imposed, including blocking accounts and transactions that may involve sanctioned individuals or entities.”
The Coinbase representative added:
Our mission is to increase economic freedom in the world. A unilateral and total ban would punish ordinary Russian citizens who are enduring historic currency destabilization as a result of their government’s aggression against a democratic neighbor. We remain vigilant as this invasion evolves and are deeply committed to playing our part.
Ukrainian crypto startup Dmarket takes action against Russian users
In addition to Coinbase’s statements on the situation in Ukraine, Canadian exchange Coinberry told vice.com that it plans to “make every effort to protect our users from any form of abuse or unlawful action that may violation of their rights”. Crypto exchange Kucoin CEO Johnny Lyu also revealed to Strachan that Kucoin is a “neutral platform” and that the exchange will not support “actions that increase” geopolitical tension.
However, there have been a couple crypto companies that have halted services to Russia entirely. The fifth-largest ethereum mining operation, Flexpool, announced last week that it had cut off Russian ethereum miners. The crypto asset exchange Kuna delisted all crypto trading pairs tethered to the Russian ruble three days ago. Furthermore, the Ukrainian non-fungible token (NFT) platform Dmarket took action against Russian users.
“Ukrainian-born startup Dmarket cuts all relations with Russia and Belarus due to the invasion of Ukraine”, Dmarket tweeted. “Registration on the platform is prohibited for users from Russia and Belarus; Accounts of previously registered users of these areas are frozen; All assets and skins remain on user accounts, but access to use them is currently limited; The Russian ruble is removed from the platform,” Dmarket added.
