Animoca Brands, a digital entertainment company that develops and publishes various categories of blockchain games, traditional games and other products, has banned all Russian customers from using its services in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Animoca brands ban Russian users

Animoca Brands looks like is the first crypto company to issue a blanket ban on all Russian users, Bloomberg reports.

“The legal advice we have received is that we must now impose some restrictions. It is a sanctioned country on par with North Korea. The moment we do business in these areas, we could be financially locked out of the financial system,” said Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca.

Animoca’s subsidiaries, Gamee and Lympo, will reportedly stop serving the Russian user base, although the number of local customers is not significant enough to affect the company’s bottom line.

Gamee announced the cessation of services to the Russians last week, while Lympo halted the release of Russian athletes’ non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and halted all ongoing negotiations.

Unicorn and blockchain game NFT Animoca will also stop selling its stakes to Russian investors as the country is currently under sanctions.

Previous major cryptocurrency exchanges say they will not ban Russian users

Earlier, major crypto exchanges said they will not ban all Russian users, even after Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov urged crypto platforms to block addresses of Russian users.

“At this time, we will not implement a blanket ban on all Coinbase transactions with addresses in Russia.” said a Coinbase quoted by Reuters.

Likewise, Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by market cap, has stated that it has no intention of banning all Russian users, which could include millions of innocent users, against the war in Ukraine.

“Cryptocurrency aims to offer greater financial freedom to people worldwide.” A Binance spokesperson quoted by CNBC said:

Jesse Powell, Kraken’s co-founder and CEO, has also said that the exchange cannot ban Russian customers’ accounts “without a legal obligation,” but argued that “necessarily” such a requirement could be imminent.

Meanwhile, Nik Storonsky, CEO of Revolut, a British financial technology company, described the war between Russia and Ukraine as “appalling” in a personal letter.

Storonsky, now a British citizen, is originally from Russia and is also of Ukrainian descent as his father is Ukrainian. He says he has family and friends across Ukraine, as well as in Russia, which is why he believes “Ukrainians and Russians are related.”

“This war is wrong and absolutely disgusting.”I said.

“I am appalled and appalled at its impact and join my voice with those around the world calling for an immediate end to fighting and pledged to diplomatic solutions.”

To support the people of Ukraine, Revolut has opened free instant donations, allowing its customers from the UK, Lithuania, Ireland, Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Austria, Bulgaria and Singapore to raise funds for the people of Ukraine.

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