There were calls to freeze Russians’ cryptocurrency accounts, but industry CEOs oppose the idea.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of the US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, said ordinary Russians are using Bitcoin as a lifeline. As a result, he emphasized that Coinbase would not ban Russians from using its platform.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Armstrong stated that Coinbase would not freeze accounts linked to Russians unless required to do so by the United States government.
The CEO explained the exchange would block transactions originating from IP addresses that could belong to sanctioned companies and individuals, but it would not take a blanket approach to freezing all Russia-associated accounts.
“Some ordinary Russians are now using crypto as a lifeline after their currency collapsed. Many of them likely oppose what their country is doing, and a ban would also harm them.”
The cryptocurrency industry has seen a surge in adoption amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation, recently urged exchanges to freeze accounts tied to Russia.
Several major crypto executives, however, oppose banning Russia-linked accounts on their platforms.
Changpeng Zhao of Binance and Jesse Powell of Kraken both said freezing accounts associated with Russia contradicts the core principles of the crypto space. A Binance spokesperson explained:
“We will not unilaterally freeze the accounts of millions of innocent users. Crypto is meant to give people worldwide greater financial freedom. Unilaterally deciding to deny people access to their crypto would go against why crypto exists.”
Exchanges stressed that they are willing to take necessary measures to block transactions initiated by sanctioned organizations and individuals. In that sense, they are not prepared to punish ordinary Russians by freezing their cryptocurrency exchange accounts.
In recent days, the Ukrainian government has received millions of dollars in assistance from cryptocurrency investors.