March 9, 2022
Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s deputy minister for digital transformation, has said that cryptocurrency exchanges that choose to stay in Russia will face global backlash.
“Private business decides for themselves where they stand, which values they support, and how it’s going to benefit them. Even those who decided to stay – society eventually is going to ban their products, because we see this enormous support from the citizens, from the people of the world,” Bornyakov explained.
For Bornyakov, their decision to stay portrays a bad image. However, he stated that he did not see the use of crypto to avoid sanctions as an immediate threat.
The Ukrainian official’s outburst came after major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase announced they would continue to operate in Russia.
The platforms rejected calls by the Ukrainian government for a blanket ban on users in Russia.
Concerns are raised about the use of cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
However, cryptocurrency exchanges say they are constantly using tools to detect and prevent attempts to circumvent sanctions.
For more information, read the original story in Reuters.
