Home
News
- Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, has asked cryptocurrency exchanges to block the accounts of both Russian and Belarusian users.
- Fedorov made the request on Twitter on February 27, after many days of fierce combat in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the nation late last week.
“I’m requesting that all major cryptocurrency exchanges freeze Russian users’ addresses,” Fedorov stated. “It is critical not just to freeze addresses associated with Russian and Belarusian authorities, but also to undermine regular users.”
Russia will use crypto
Fedorov then applauded NFT platform DMarket for freezing accounts belonging to consumers in Russia and Belarus in a subsequent tweet. DMarket had verified this a few hours earlier on Twitter, indicating that assets remained in users’ accounts but that their access had been restricted.
Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, one of the world’s largest exchanges, stated today that such a move could not be made “without a legal necessity to do so,” although he added that such an order “maybe soon.”
Fedorov’s request comes only days after the United States and the European Union announced a combined decision to exclude some Russian banks from SWIFT, the international payments messaging system, as well as to freeze Russia’s abroad assets.
ALSO READ: Is it time for Tesla and Elon Musk to face SEC’s blows?
Worries of banks
The Russian rouble has hit a new low this morning, raising worries of a bank run in the country.
Meanwhile, over $10 million in bitcoin, ether, and USDT has been contributed to the Ukrainian government since its official Twitter account issued a call for help on February 26.
As previously reported, the threat of Russia utilizing cryptocurrency to avoid economic sanctions prompted Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, to encourage members to establish a crypto regulatory framework.
The ECB President has asked politicians to regulate cryptocurrency in order to prevent Russia from exploiting it to avoid sanctions.
At an informal meeting of economic and financial ministers on Friday, Lagarde made this request in response to a reporter’s query about Russia potentially utilizing crypto to avoid some of these sanctions. She indicated that the ECB will apply any sanctions imposed on Russia by European politicians on the latter.
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast, with a major in macroeconomics and minor in business statistics. She believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks, and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning. She frequently researches, and posts content on the top altcoins, their theoretical working principles and technical price predictions.
