Coinbase, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchange platforms, announced today that it's blocking access to more than 25,000 blockchain addresses linked to Russian individuals and entities.
The company also shared all the block addresses with the US government to "further support sanctions enforcement.
Paul Grewal, Coinbase's Chief Legal Officerlaos, added that the crypto exchange is blocking sanctioned actors from opening new accounts and actively detecting attempts to evade the ban.
The ban addresses sanction lists maintained by countries worldwide, including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, United Nations, Singapore, Canada, and Japan.
"For example, when the United States sanctioned a Russian national in 2020, it specifically listed three associated blockchain addresses. Through advanced blockchain analysis, we proactively identified over 1,200 additional addresses potentially associated with the sanctioned individual, which we added to our internal blocklist," Grewal said.
"Today, Coinbase blocks over 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals or entities we believe to be engaging in illicit activity, many of which we have identified through our own proactive investigations."
Exchanges' reply to call for Russian blanket ban
This comes after Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov also asked all major crypto exchanges to block blockchain addresses used by Russians to increase pressure and force them to take action against their government's ongoing war in Ukraine.
"It's crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users," Fedorov said.
I'm asking all major crypto exchanges to block addresses of Russian users.
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 27, 2022
It's crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users.
Coinbase and other crypto exchanges, including Binance, refused to freeze all Russian users' accounts but said they would comply with US and European Union economic sanctions imposed on Russia after its armed forces invaded Ukraine.
Binance and Coinbase spokespersons added that, while they will not block all Russian accounts on their platforms, the crypto exchanges will take steps to identify all sanctions entities and individuals and block their accounts and transactions.
While Coinbase cited "economic freedom in the world" to explain this decision, Binance said it was about "greater financial freedom for people across the globe" and banning users' access to their cryptocurrency "would fly in the face of the reason why crypto exists."
"Sanctions play a vital role in promoting national security and deterring unlawful aggression, and Coinbase fully supports these efforts by government authorities," Grewal added today.
"They are best placed to decide when, where, and how to apply them."
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Comments
TsVk! - 3 years ago
Just more propaganda.
Coinbase blocking any or all addresses makes no difference to Russia.
h_b_s - 3 years ago
"Just more propaganda.
Coinbase blocking any or all addresses makes no difference to Russia."
It matters to those blocked, especially if they had coins in a Coinbase wallet. Coinbase is the largest legitimate coin exchange in the world. It's like being blocked by MasterCard or Visa for normal debits. Might not matter quite as much inside Russia. The PRC has entirely banned cryptocurrencies so they can't trade with China with any surety. Since the ban, the only PRC traders are going to be the criminal gangs. Russian gangs might try that, but the average Russian isn't that crazy. Venezuela? Why?? Ecuador? I'd bet Ecuador may close their coin exchanges to Russia.
There are certainly other exchanges, but what exactly does it get a Russian citizen to trade with many of them? Most of them are fraudulent. They can't trade with the West, because soon as those coins pass through a wallet in Coinbase they'll get frozen. The 'tumblers' are getting rounded up in the West and the operators are going to jail.
Miners will even have to be smuggled in at this point. ASICs and GPGPUs are on the proscribed lists. Means Russians will fall behind in blockchain generation. That leaves Monero, again, CPUs are on the proscribed lists and Russia's in house processors are terrible. They're arguably even worse than China's in house processors.
Drags - 3 years ago
Not just propaganda, if they are really blocking it.
As h_b_s already mentioned, this is yet another way that Russians are loosing when it comes to payment methods. Visa, Mastercard and Swift already gone, this is yet another blocker that may hinder.
At this point Russia will become China's puppet when it comes to payments as there is no other way left. Not that the Rubel still is worth anything.
I feel sorry for the average citizen, who has to endure more costs and hardships just because of "a certain few" who have a power-trip.
grebulon - 3 years ago
Isn't the purpose of crypto currency to work around government rules and regulations?
Why would anyone work with an exchange that blocks customers?
Winston2021 - 3 years ago
"Isn't the purpose of crypto currency to work around government rules and regulations?"
If cryptocurrencies ever become a real threat to the existing financial system or any particular government's fiat currency, digital or otherwise, they will simply be declared ILLEGAL TENDER by the affected government(s) and since all governments have various means of life and death control over businesses, no business of any kind will dare accept them or convert them to a fiat currency. It won't matter at that point whether you have a private wallet or not.