Cryptocurrency wallet provider Blockchain.com is the latest company to soon stop serving Russian citizens due to the latest European Union sanctions.
Blockchain.com has notified its users that it will close the accounts of Russian citizens in two weeks, reported on October 14 the local news agency RBC.
According to the news, Blockchain.com will allow Russian users to withdraw their funds until October 27, 2022. After that date, the accounts of Russian citizens will be blocked.
The statement underlines that Blockchain.com is currently prohibited from providing custody and reward services to Russian citizens, according to the eighth package of EU sanctions against Russia.
Unlike previous sanctions, which only limited cryptocurrency payments between Russia and the EU to about $9,700, or €10,000, the latest package totally bans cross-border cryptocurrency payments between Russia and the EU. The new sanctions were imposed on October 6.
Blockchain.com services are not limited to custody services. Blockchain.com also runs a non-custodial wallet, which is ideally designed to allow users to fully control their assets while the company does not have access to the wallet data. In addition to the non-custodial wallet, Blockchain.com also manages custodial trading accounts, which allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies within the platform.
It is unclear whether Russian customers will be able to maintain access to their non-custodial wallets on Blockchain.com. The firm did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
Blockchain.com is not the only platform suspending some services to Russians amid the latest sanctions. Major blockchain developer Dapper Labs has also suspended Russian accounts due to the latest EU sanctions against Russia and its citizens.
Many other large exchanges and peer-to-peer platforms, such as Crypto.com, Coinbase, and LocalBitcoins, appear to also be planning to comply with the sanctions.
As of Oct. 7, P2P exchange LocalBitcoins has stopped providing its services to Russian users, including both trading and wallet services, chief marketing officer Jukka Blomberg told Cointelegraph. “As a result of the eighth package of EU sanctions, we unfortunately have to completely restrict the activity of Russian clients on the LocalBitcoins platform,” he said.
Blomberg noted that Russian trading volume was around 8% of the firm’s total volumes in September 2022. Russia was once LocalBitcoin’s largest market, representing 19% of all total BTC trading volumes on the exchange on a monthly basis in 2020.
Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, is no exception. The firm is working around the clock to apply the new restrictions for Russians as well. “Changes like these take time to implement, as we have to carefully coordinate with multiple technology and risk management partners,” a Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph.
Some exchanges, including Tether’s sister firm Bitfinex, have previously opposed sanctions against innocent Russian citizens. “Our view is that the actions of a government do not necessarily represent the wishes of individuals,” Bitfinex Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino said in March 2022. He added that Bitfinex was willing to protect the accounts of all its customers” unless the regulatory authorities” by which they are governed indicate otherwise.
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