Russian citizens’ accounts on Blockchain.com will soon be closed, and entities like Binance are striving to implement the new EU restrictions.
Blockchain.com, a provider of cryptocurrency wallets, is the most recent business that will shortly stop offering its services to Russian citizens as a result of the most recent EU sanctions.
According to the local news outlet RBC, Blockchain.com has informed its customers that it will terminate Russian citizens’ accounts in two weeks.
The report states that Russian customers will be able to withdraw their money from Blockchain.com until October 27, 2022. The accounts of Russian citizens will apparently be disabled after that date.
The statement noted that, in accordance with the EU’s eighth package of sanctions on Russia, Blockchain.com is not now permitted to provide custody and incentive services to Russian citizens.
Contrary to earlier restrictions, which merely restricted cross-border crypto transfers between Russians and the EU to about $9,700 or 10,000 euros, the most recent package outlaws all such transactions. On October 6, more penalties were put into place.
The services offered by Blockchain.com go beyond custodial services. Additionally, Blockchain.com offers noncustodial wallets, which are intended to provide customers complete ownership over their assets while preventing the company from having access to the wallet’s data. Blockchain.com also offers custodial trading accounts, which let users purchase and sell cryptocurrency on the platform, in addition to the noncustodial wallet.
It is yet unknown if Russian users of Blockchain.com would be able to continue using their non-custodial wallets. When Cointelegraph asked the company for comment, they did not respond right away.
In light of the most recent sanctions, Blockchain.com is not the only website that has suspended some services to Russians. Due to the most recent sanctions the EU has imposed on Russia and its citizens, major blockchain developer Dapper Labs has likewise blocked Russian accounts.
According to reports, a large number of other significant exchanges and peer-to-peer platforms, including Crypto.com, Coinbase, and LocalBitcoins, also intend to abide by the sanctions.
According to chief marketing officer Jukka Blomberg, P2P exchange LocalBitcoins stopped providing its services, including trading and wallet services, to Russian consumers as of October 7. “Unfortunately, we have to entirely ban the Russian customers’ activities on the LocalBitcoins platform as a result of the 8th EU-wide punishment package,” he stated.
Blomberg stated that in September 2022, the firm’s entire trading volume with Russia accounted for around 8% of that volume. With 19% of the total monthly BTC trading volumes on the exchange in 2020, Russia was previously the largest LocalBitcoin market.
Binance, is no different. In order to implement the new limits for Russians as well, the company is working around the clock. According to a representative for Binance, “Changes like these take time to implement since we have to properly cooperate with numerous tech and risk management partners.”
Some exchanges, including Bitfinex, a sister company of Tether, have previously opposed crypto restrictions against common Russian citizens. Paolo Ardoino, chief technical officer at Bitfinex, stated that “our position is that the actions of a government do not necessarily represent the preferences of individuals” in March 2022. He continued by saying that Bitfinex was ready to keep all of its customers’ accounts safe “unless otherwise advised by the regulatory bodies” under which they are governed.
