Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, declared on Monday that it will only restrain the sanctioned Russian user accounts and not “unilaterally” ban the accounts of all Russian users.
The crypto firm passed this comment after Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, instructed major cryptocurrency exchange to block all Russian user accounts.
While speaking with CNBC, a spokesperson for Binance stated that 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, he added.
On Sunday, Fedorov, asked major exchanges to block the addresses of Russian users.
On his verified twitter handle, he said “It’s crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users.”
Binance further said it is taking necessary steps to ensure action is taken against those that have had sanctions levied against them while minimizing impact to innocent users.
Binance said it would block the accounts of any individuals on sanctions lists and was “ensuring that all sanctions are met in full.”
However, other cryptocurrency exchange also stated that it won’t freeze the accounts of Russian users without legal requirement.
Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, another major cryptocurrency exchange, said on Twitter on Monday that the company “cannot freeze the accounts of our Russian clients without a legal requirement to do so.”
Similarly, Johnny Lyu, KuCoin CEO said in a statement that as a neutral platform, it wont freeze the accounts of any users from any country without legal requirement.
