Crypto exchanges refuse to ban Russian users as rouble trading surges
Crypto exchanges are resisting calls for a blanket ban on Russian users despite a surge in rouble trading volumes.
The volume of Russian roubles being exchanged for crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Tether has soared since the invasion of Ukraine began amid sanctions from Western governments. Yesterday, Rouble-crypto trade volumes topped $63m according to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis sparking concerns that Russian traders are using crypto to move their wealth in spite of punitive economic sanctions.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s vice prime minister called for crypto exchanges to urgently freeze the accounts of Russian and Belarusian users. It is “crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users,” wrote vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
However, the call for a sweeping ban on Russian users has been resisted. Binance, the world’s largest digital asset exchange by trade volume, agreed to enforce sanctions against specific individuals, but refused to introduce a blanket ban for Russian users.
“We have assembled a dedicated global compliance task force, including world-renowned sanctions experts, and are taking the steps necessary to ensure we take action against those that have had sanctions levied against them, while minimizing impact to innocent users,” Binance told City PM in an e-mailed statement.
Likewise, the chief executive and co-founder of crypto exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell said he was unable to comply with the vice president’s request. “I understand the rationale for this request but, despite my deep respect for the Ukrainian people, Kraken cannot freeze the accounts of our Russian clients without a legal requirement to do so,” he said.
This weekend Russian banks were ejected from the SWIFT payments network, an international messaging system which lets banks make secure cross-border payments. The price of the rouble plummeted more than 30 per cent against the dollar after the decision was made.
Read more: Ukraine war boosts Bitcoin and green stocks as crypto helps Russians and oligarchs to get funds out