On Tuesday, reports indicate that the Russian invasion has escalated after peace talks at the border between Ukrainian and Russian officials failed. A 40-mile military convoy is surrounding the capital of Kyiv and reports show that “Kharkiv has become a key battleground.” Meanwhile, after the vice prime minister of Ukraine asked digital currency exchanges to “sabotage ordinary users,” a number of exchanges have released 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 peoples 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 from Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), told Strachan that a request to ban all Russian customers would harm “economic freedom.” “At this time, we will not institute 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 all 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 governments 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 UsersIn addition to Coinbases statements about the situation in Ukraine, the Canadian exchange Coinberry told vice.com that it plans to “make every effort to protect our users from any form of overreach or unlawful action which may infringe on their rights.” The CEO of the crypto exchange Kucoin, Johnny Lyu, also disclosed to Strachan that Kucoin was a “neutral platform” and that the exchange would 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 relationships with Russia and Belarus due to the invasion of Ukraine,” Dmarket tweeted. “The registration on the platform is prohibited for users from Russia and Belarus; Accounts of previously registered users from these areas are frozen; All assets and skins remain on user accounts, but access to their use is currently limited; Russian Ruble is removed from the platform,” Dmarket added.