Coinbase blocks 25,000 Russian-linked Accounts

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Coinbase blocks 25,000 Russian-linked Accounts
09 Mar 2022
6 min read

News Synopsis

One of the leading crypto exchanges, Coinbase has blocked more than 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals or entities engaged in illicit activities.

When a user opens an account, Coinbase compares the information provided with the list of sanctioned individuals or groups provided by the United States of America, United Kingdom, European Union, United Nations, Singapore, Canada and Japan, and is subject to sanctions such as Crimea, North Korea, Syria, and  Iran.

Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase has said that the platform identified more than 1,200 additional addresses potentially associated with the sanctioned individual with its advanced blockchain analysis. The individuals were added to the internal blocklist of the platform.

It also said that it helds the list of accounts held by sanctioned people outside of Coinbase. The crypto exchange also claimed that digital assets are able to naturally deter common approaches to sanction evasion.

The platform said that the Russian government and other sanctioned actors would need virtually unobtainable amounts of digital assets to meaningfully counteract current sanctions. The central bank of Russia alone has more than $630 billion in largely immobilised reserve assets.

Several of the blocked Russian people or entities Coinbase recognized via its very own proactive investigations.

That`s large than the full marketplace capitalisation of all however one virtual asset, and 5-10 instances the full each day traded extent of all virtual assets.

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