Binance CEO calls it Unethical to Block Russian Accounts

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Binance CEO calls it Unethical to Block Russian Accounts
05 Mar 2022
6 min read

News Synopsis

Binance is blocking access for Russian account holders who have been hit by international sanctions, but the CEO of Binance has said that he will not prevent all Russians from accessing the crypto exchange platform.

The USA and its allies have imposed sanctions on Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine that started last week. Changpeng Zhao said that the company follows sanctions rules very strictly. Anyone who is on the sanction list will not be able to use the platform. He further said that expanding restrictions beyond the list of sanctioned individuals would be unethical for the company to do.

He further said that many Russians do not support the war, so the normal people should be separated from politicians. Zhao said he didn't know how many accounts of sanctioned individuals were frozen, but  Binance has a compliance team made up of people with a "traditional law enforcement and compliance background" to handle the process. 

According to a report, other crypto exchanges like Kraken and Coinbase have refused to block the accounts of non-sanctioned Russians. Banks are also following the same sanction list as the crypto exchange follows. CEO Changpeng Zhao also said that users on Binance will require to be verified under the KYC process.

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