Ukraine Requests That Binance, Coinbase, And Six Other Cryptocurrency Exchanges Block Russian Users.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation has written to eight cryptocurrency exchanges, urging that they stop offering Russian customers due to worries that digital currencies are being used to circumvent sanctions.

The Ukraine government is contacting Coinbase, Binance, Huobi, KuCoin, Bybit, Gate.io, and Whitebit, as well as Ukrainian exchange Kuna.

The letters are being delivered after Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, requested all major cryptocurrency exchanges to restrict Russian users’ addresses on Sunday night.

Binance, a global cryptocurrency exchange, informed that it has no intentions to arbitrarily prohibit Russian customers from its platform.

A Binance spokesperson said:

“However, we are taking the steps necessary to ensure we take action against those that have had sanctions levied against them while minimizing impact to innocent users. Should the international community widen those sanctions further, we will apply those aggressively as well,”

The US Treasury moved on Monday morning to establish measures to prevent Russians from evading sanctions as the nation continues its aggression against Ukraine. The new restrictions make it illegal to engage in “deceptive or structured transactions or dealings to circumvent any United States sanctions, including through the use of digital currencies or assets or the use of physical assets.”

According to a spokesman from Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, the letters urge that the listed cryptocurrency exchanges stop support for the Russian ruble, ruble spot pairings, and fiat gateways, including Russian payment systems. The ministry has also requested that all Russian consumers be blocked by the exchanges.

Coinbase stated in a statement that it will not impose blanket restrictions on transactions using Russian addresses, but will block accounts or transactions that may implicate sanctioned persons or companies. Coinbase’s “mission is to increase economic freedom … A unilateral and total ban would punish ordinary Russian citizens.” according to the company.

Last night, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell shared similar comments while explaining why his exchange would not freeze the accounts of its Russian clients until legally forced to do so.

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Patrick

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