- Jesse Powell declines Ukraine’s request to block Russian crypto accounts.
- Earlier, the Vice PM of Ukraine requested crypto exchanges to freeze the accounts.
- Binance Exchange also plans not to block user accounts.
In a recent Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) post by Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, the government asked all the exchanges to freeze the crypto addresses of Russian users. He also requested other exchanges to block crypto accounts of Russian and Belarusian politicians as well.
As a response to Fedorov’s announcement, Kraken exchange CEO Jesse Powell declined the Ukrainian government’s request. He also added that the request could be imminent.
1/6 I understand the rationale for this request but, despite my deep respect for the Ukrainian people, @krakenfx cannot freeze the accounts of our Russian clients without a legal requirement to do so.Russians should be aware that such a requirement could be imminent. #NYKNYC https://t.co/bMRrJzgF8N
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) February 28, 2022
Moreover, he added that his exchange is served better by focusing on individual needs irrespective of any political or government faction. People’s money has an ‘’exit strategy’’ for humans, a weapon for peace, for war.
He also remarked that if Kraken was to freeze the financial accounts of users from violence-provoking countries, it would have to freeze all US accounts first. Whatever the case, that does not fit its viable business option.
Earlier, Binance also stated that it had no plans to unilaterally hold the user accounts of Russians.
We are not going to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts. Crypto was meant to provide greater financial freedom for people across the globe.
But, contrary to these denial posts, Ukrainian digital asset company Dmarket accepted the government’s request to freeze accounts. Replying back to Dmarket’s post, Fedorov tweeted that funds collected from the frozen accounts could be utilized for war efforts.
Besides this request, Fedorov also tweeted asking Mark Zuckerberg to ban Russian users from accessing Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Instagram.