Ukraine Vice-PM asks crypto exchanges to freeze Russian accounts; Binance, Kraken declines

Ukraine’s vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov called on cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze Belarusian and Russian-related users’ accounts. Tweeting the plea on Sunday, the minister noted that “It’s crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users.”

I'm asking all major crypto 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.

— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 27, 2022

The request came a day after the Ukrainian politician offered a bounty to whoever identified the cryptocurrency addresses associated with Russian and Belarusian politicians. “War crimes must be pursued and punished,” Fedorov tweeted.

Soon after, Ukrainian-based NFT startup DMarket tweeted that it has followed up on the request and froze the accounts associated with Russian and Belarus users. The move was acknowledged by Fedorov in a follow-up tweet, which added that the funds from these accounts could be donated to the war effort.

However, the same cannot be said for crypto exchanges Binance and Kraken who declined the request made by the Minister. A Binance spokesperson told CNBC:

“We are not going to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts. “Crypto is meant to provide greater financial freedom for people across the globe. To unilaterally decide to ban people’s access to their crypto would fly in the face of the reason why crypto exists.”

A similar statement was released by Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, who responded that the exchange cannot freeze the accounts “without a legal requirement to do so.”

“Our mission at @krakenfx is to bridge individual humans out of the legacy financial system and bring them in to the world of crypto, where arbitrary lines on maps no longer matter, where they don’t have to worry about being caught in broad, indiscriminate wealth confiscation,” Powell tweeted today.

5/6 Sometimes the hardest thing about having power is knowing when not to use it. Our mission is better served by focusing on individual needs above those of any government or political faction. The People's Money is an exit strategy for humans, a weapon for peace, not for war.

— Jesse Powell (@jespow) February 28, 2022

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