Or, should I call it Warcoin or how about Despotcoin:
On Sunday, the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine urged global cryptocurrency exchanges to block all accounts belonging to Russian nationals, and that was followed by the Biden administration is now asking crypto exchanges to help monitor transactions that may be used by Russian individuals or entities to avoid sanctions, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.
As Saxo reports, according to estimates, Russian citizens own around USD 200 bn worth of cryptos according to numbers from early February.
But many exchanges are pushing back against these calls to block or freeze all transactions in Russia
Binance was the first crypto exchange to decline the request stating that they are “not going to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts. Crypto was meant to provide greater financial freedom for people across the globe They will, however, be …blocking accounts of those on the sanctions list… and ensuring that all sanctions are met in full”
Two other major cryptoexchanges, Coinbase Global and Kraken, also declined the request from Ukraine.
The CEO of Kraken stated on Twitter that the company “cannot freeze the accounts of our Russian clients without a legal requirement to do so”.
A Coinbase spokesperson told Reuters that the major exchange “will not institute a blanket ban on all Coinbase transactions involving Russian addresses.”
Well, how about you do it multilaterally then? You know, with the rest of the free world as it seeks to punish despots from slaughtering innocents.
But noooo:
Australia’s major cryptocurrency exchanges have not said whether they’ll freeze accounts linked to Russian users as Ukraine pleads with them to do so.
While some have turned to cryptocurrencies amid the Russia-Ukraine invasion, Ukraine’s Vice-Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for cryptocurrency exchanges — which are services used to buy and sell cryptocurrencies — to block Russian users, going beyond targeted sanctions to Russian individuals.
“It’s crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users,” he tweeted on Monday.
Earlier today Vice reported that the world’s major cryptocurrency exchanges were refusing to heed this call.
The CEO for US-based Kraken Exchange Jesse Powell told Vice that such as request went against Bitcoin’s libertarian values and the company’s mission to bring people into the “world of crypto, where arbitrary lines on maps no longer matter, where they don’t have to worry about being caught in broad, indiscriminate wealth confiscation”.
Likewise Australia’s major cryptocurrency exchanges have shown no interest in such a move.
A spokesperson for Australian cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve told Crikey that the company always abides by Australian laws and regulations but would not comment on the suggestion of freezing Russian accounts.
There’s nothing quite like a fake freedom currency arbitraging a violent assault upon freedom, ey?
Is Tether buying Russian junk debt too? Helping finance the slaughter? Nobody knows because the entire edifice is a criminal enterprise with zero oversight.
Ban crypto.
