Flexpool, the world’s fifth-largest Ethereum mining pool, is cutting all of its services to Russian users to support Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion. The decision makes FlexPool one of the first cryptocurrency-based businesses to take a side by showing solidarity with Ukraine. Binance has since followed suit and also announced that it will be blocking Russian users targeted by official sanctions.
Flexpool is the world’s fifth-largest ether mining pool. In an official communication, the pool disclosed that it does not want to profit from the crisis, or to fund it indirectly, and has thus decided that the best course of action is to cancel all services to Russian IP addresses and pay outstanding balances to affected users. The message also conveyed an apology to Russian miners unaffiliated with the war itself.
On Thursday evening, on its official Telegram channel, Flexpool spokesperson stated that, despite its general position of staying away from politics, they would be taking action as the war in Ukraine is already bigger than politics and affects many innocent lives.
"We apologize to our Russian miners; many of you do not support the war. However, it is you who are supporting your nation. Without the people, Russia cannot operate. It is only through reducing the economic power of its people that we have a chance of affecting this war.
We thank you for your loyalty, and I hope you understand that we do not make this decision lightly. Should this situation be resolved peacefully, we will happily welcome back all Russian miners and use our personal funds to make it up to you," the mining pool said.
Despite this measure, Reddit users have pointed out that miners can still use efficient virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass the Flexpool restrictions.
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