Russian users of the cryptocurrency exchanges LocalBitcoins, Crypto.com, and Blockchain.com have been advised to withdraw money from their accounts as services will soon be halted for them.
Fresh Set Of Sanctions
The European Commission last week issued a fresh set of penalties that strengthened previously enacted limitations on offering financial services to Russian people in Europe. Russia is being punished by the sanctions for instigating the conflict in Ukraine.
The European Commission last week issued a fresh set of penalties that strengthened previously enacted limitations on offering financial services to Russian people in Europe. Russia is being punished by the sanctions for instigating the conflict in Ukraine.
Up until today, it was illegal for cryptocurrency companies operating in the EU to give Russian customers who had more than €10,000 worth of assets in their accounts access to their bitcoin. The enhanced package removes that cap, and the restriction now applies to any accounts that Russian citizens use to store cryptocurrency, regardless of their balance.
Exchanges Ejecting Non-EU Russian Users
Dmitry Suharev, editor of the Russian news website Chronicles.Media, informed CoinDesk that on October 8, he received an email from LocalBitcoins (which CoinDesk has seen) informing him that he could withdraw all of his bitcoin in a single transaction after which his account would no longer be accessible.
Suharev, who resides in Georgia, said he had been paying freelancers in Russia using cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies are one of the very few remittance choices available, as that nation has recently been cut off from the world payment networks as a result of the sanctions.
Russians who are also nationals or lawful permanent residents of the EU will not be subject to the limitations, according to an email from LocalBitcoins, a Finland-based company and one of the oldest peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplaces in the world.
The Omsk Civil Union project’s coordinator, Daniil Chebykin, used Blockchain.com to conduct a cryptocurrency fundraising campaign to assist Russians in avoiding military service. According to him, that exchange sent him an email on October 14 telling him he had until October 27 to make a withdrawal. Soon after the conflict began, Chebykin departed for another country and is currently working there.
Russian consumers have also been informed by the U.K.-based exchange Crypto.com that their service is no longer available, according to the Russian-language cryptocurrency news website Forklog. The NFT marketplace for Russian consumers was likewise made inaccessible by DapperLabs last week.
This comes soon after news that Russians were moving towards stablecoins to maintain the value of their assets. Russian people are increasingly finding themselves with nowhere to hide as the war rages on and sanctions continue to bite.
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