The Russia-Ukraine crisis seems to be at the centre of the cryptocurrency community. The crypto community has been donating towards Ukraine and its military, and some prominent community members have even spoken out against Russia, urging it to halt the conflict.
Now, the vice prime minister of Ukraine who is also the minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, is also calling upon cryptocurrency exchange platforms to freeze the accounts of Russian and Belarusian users.
Ukraine wants exchanges to block Russian and Belarusian users
Fedorov took to Twitter to urge cryptocurrency exchanges to take this move. “I’m asking all major exchanges to block addresses of Russian users. It’s crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians but also to sabotage ordinary users,” he said.
The CEO of Kraken, Jesse Powell, responded to Fedorov’s tweet, saying that while such a move is possible, it would only happen if there was a legal requirement. Powell also called upon Russian users to inform them that such a move “could be imminent.”
“That requirement could come from your own government, as we have seen in Canada, in response to protests, bank runs and attempts to flee the country. It could come from foreign states, like the US as a weapon to turn the Russian populace against its government’s policies,” Powell added.
However, not all crypto exchange platforms have refrained from making such a move. DMarket, a platform for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), froze the accounts of users based in Russia and Belarus. Fedorov was quick to notice this action and praised the platform.
Received breaking news. @dmarket, a platform for trading NFT & In-game Metaverse items, decided to freeze the accounts of uses from the Russian Federation and Belarus. Funds from these accounts could be donated to the war effort. Nowadays Robin Hoods. Bravo.
The cryptocurrency sector has defined itself as being decentralized and neutral, such that it protects people from government and third-party interference. This was evidenced during Canada’s recent Freedom Convoy protests, where people linked to the protests resulted to Bitcoin after the government moved to freeze their bank accounts. Crypto exchange CEOs, including Powell, urged people to use self-custodial wallets to prevent their exchange funds from suffering a similar fate.
Crypto community weighs in on Russia-Ukraine crisis
The crypto community has been vocal about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. After Russia invaded Ukraine late last week, the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, called upon the Russian government to halt the conflict, as it affected both the Russian and Ukrainian people.
The CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has also weighed in on the conflict. However, his move was in the form of monetary support to the Ukrainian people. The executive said that every Ukrainian user signed up on the exchange would receive free $25.
Crypto donations have also been pouring in for the Ukrainian military. Elliptic, a blockchain analytics firm, said that over $400,000 worth of Bitcoin had been donated to Come Back Alive, an NGO that provides military support to Ukraine’s military. The NGO also provided food and media support. One single anonymous individual donated 80 Bitcoin to the organization.
A UkraineDAO is also being created through a partnership between Trippy Labs, PleasrDAO and Pussy Riot, a rock band in Russia. The UkraineDAO will support Ethereum sales, with the proceeds going to support Ukrainians affected by the conflict. Through the DAO, 10,000 NFTs with the Ukrainian flag will be dropped, and the proceeds will be donated to various NGOs such as Return Alive Foundation and Proliska.
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