This is a situation that crypto exchanges would have liked to avoid.
They who advocate financial inclusion are under pressure to choose sides, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine was followed by sanctions from the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom.
This pressure weakens their motto that they are borderless and do not discriminate unlike centralized finance.
But at the same time, they do not want to alienate either the regulators or some of their customers who support the Ukrainians through donations.
It is a real dilemma that cryptocurrency exchanges are facing, especially since they have been publicly challenged by the Ukrainian authorities.
“I’m asking all major crypto exchanges to block addresses of Russian users,” Ukrainian Vice Premier minister Mykhailo Fedorov posted on his Twitter account. “It’s crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users.”
