Despite most countries’ financial sanctions against Russia, cryptocurrency exchanges have decided differently. Binance and Kraken announced that they will not block the accounts of Russian crypto users. 

Disregarding the international criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Binance has said that it would not impose a unilateral freeze on its users. According to Reuters, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance emphasized their decision. They will not freeze the accounts of millions of innocent civilians. Furthermore, the exchange raised attention to the goal of crypto creation. They note that crypto brings more financial independence for individuals throughout the globe, so, freezing accounts wouldn’t make sense.

The Ukrainian government requested that cryptocurrency exchanges tighten down on Russian customers to increase pressure on the nation after the invasion. Despite this calling, Binance decided not to freeze out Russian crypto users’ accounts.

Following on, the other giant cryptocurrency exchange Kraken stated its point of view on blocking crypto users from Russia. However, Kraken points out that they can restrict Russian accounts through legal procedures – hinting that it might happen in the following weeks. On the other hand, Jesse Powell warned Russian customers to be prepared for a possible freeze of their accounts. 

Diving into details, Powell stated that the reasoning for this request is understandable. However, despite the love for the Ukrainian people, Kraken can not freeze the accounts of our Russian customers without a legal necessity to do so. Nonetheless, Russians should be aware of the possibility of such a mandate, added Powell.

Ukraine Requests Blocking Russian Crypto Users’ Accounts

As the war is taking place in Ukraine, its Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov released an important notice for the citizens. Accordingly, the country’s crypto community will reward those who submit facts leading to identifying accounts related to Russian politicians. In addition, he argued that the exchanges should ban accounts for politicians alongside regular customers.

As the invasion of Ukraine is going on, the Western nations have started many financial penalties on Russia. The newest focus is moving to crypto exchanges. Cryptocurrencies constantly promote themselves as a viable alternative to established economic systems. Well, they might also be an alternative for wealthy Russians to avoid the sanctions.

Nonetheless, sanctions on Russia have not been easy to apply to. This is because there are numerous cryptocurrency exchanges hosted in Russia. Moreover, customers who are part of these exchanges own access to decentralized platforms in other countries. As a result, there have been challenges in setting restrictions on Russia. 

In the event of the invasion, there has been a proposal from Ukrainian authorities to prohibit Russian wallets. This calling has been made even though Ukrainian authorities benefit from crypto contributions to fight against the Russian invasion.

Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT.

BTC – 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P

ETH and USDT (ERC-20) – 0x165CD37b4C644C2921454429E7F9358d18A45e14

— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) February 26, 2022

According to some reports, the crypto contributions for Ukraine have crossed the $27 million thresholds. In addition, various businesses and people have contributed to supporting the course. Binance is supporting humanitarian causes with a $10 million in cryptocurrency gift as per the record.