Key facts:
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The White House and the Treasury Department would have talked with the world’s largest exchanges.
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Ukrainian leaders also called on exchanges to freeze Russian and Belarusian accounts.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are still in the midst of the war between Russia and Ukraine. After the economic sanctions imposed on some Russian banks and personalities, the debate now turns to the possibility that cryptocurrency exchanges collaborate directly with the effectiveness of the measures.
One report Bloomberg notes that the US government, through the White House National Security Council and the Treasury Department, met with representatives of some of the world’s largest exchanges looking for support.
According to the information, attributed to sources “with knowledge of the matter”, the Joe Biden administration would be asking exchanges to help prevent Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from being a safety valve for sanctioned Russian individuals and organizations.
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Although no results of the meetings were disclosed, the outlet said that the sources are convinced that cryptocurrencies are not a substitute for the US dollar in Russia. Still, the White House is hell-bent on thwarting any attempt to use crypto to evade sanctions.
This weekend, Occurred the much talked regarding disconnection of Russian banking from a large part of the international payment system. The United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have excluded most Russian banks from the SWIFT system. (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication). This implies that Russia will have to look for alternatives to sustain its economy.
Ukraine had already asked exchanges to block Russian accounts
Yesterday morning, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov had already asked crypto exchanges to block the addresses of Russian and Belarusian users. “It is crucial to freeze not only addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users,” the official said on Twitter.
However, some exchange spokespersons responded negatively to the request. Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, noted that it was not possible to freeze accounts of their Russian clients without a legal order. In a thread of tweets, Powell told Fedorov that the request might come from his own government, citing recent events in Canada as an example.
For its part, Binance told Fortune that it has no intention of unilaterally freezing accounts. “We are not going to unilaterally freeze the accounts of millions of innocent users,” commented the exchange with the most users globally. However, cryptocurrency exchanges appear to be facing pressure from regulators.
