On MSNBC Monday night, Hillary Clinton, a former first lady, U.S. senator and Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, slammed the Biden administration, the Treasury Department, and European nations for letting Russians use cryptocurrencies as an escape route. Clinton stated that it’s disappointing that several big bitcoin exchanges have refused to restrict all Russian customers’ accounts. She told MSNBC Monday night that she was unhappy to discover that certain so-called crypto exchanges refused to terminate transactions with Russia due to some libertarianism or whatever ideology. If there has to be legal or regulatory pressure, everyone should do everything they can to isolate Russian economic activities right now, she added.
I talked to @maddow about Russia, Ukraine, and how all this might end. https://t.co/9PF6zIZ1ac
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 1, 2022
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, tweeted on 27 February, requesting that all major cryptocurrency exchanges restrict the addresses of all Russian users, including regular 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
Several large cryptocurrency exchanges, however, have stated that they would not cooperate, refusing to freeze all Russian consumers’ accounts. Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken are among them. However, the exchanges will conform with sanctions rules. Jesse Powell, CEO of crypto exchange Kraken, emphasised that his exchange can only suspend the accounts of Russian customers if a government requires it, recalling what happened in Canada during the Freedom Convoy trucker protest.
Clinton believes that governments should do more to prevent cryptocurrency from being used to circumvent sanctions. She added that she hopes that someone at the Treasury Department is attempting to find out how to close the faulty valves in the crypto market that would allow Russia to avoid the full force of the sanctions.
Read more:
- Ukraine is after the crypto wallets of Russian politicians following Russian banks being cut off from SWIFT
- Ukraine urges cryptocurrency exchanges to block addresses linked to Russia and Belarus
