As a result of the current sanctions by the European Union, Blockchain.com, a provider of cryptocurrency wallet services, will soon no longer serve Russian nationals.
As reported by RBC, a Russian news outlet, on October 14, Blockchain.com informed its subscribers that it will be terminating Russian national accounts in two weeks.
The report claims that Russian users of Blockchain.com will have access to their money until October 27, 2022. Reports indicate that Russian citizens will have their accounts closed after that date.
As stated in the announcement, due to the EU’s eighth set of sanctions on Russia, Blockchain.com is presently unable to offer its custodial and incentive services to residents of Russia.
Unlike the last sanctions package, which just capped crypto payments between Russia and the EU at about $9,700, or 10,000 euros, the new package completely bans such transactions. On October 6th, the new restrictions went into effect.
The services offered by Blockchain.com are not restricted to custody. Blockchain.com also operates a noncustodial wallet, which is intended to provide customers complete control over their funds while ensuring that the company itself has no access to the wallet’s contents. Users can purchase and sell cryptocurrency through custodial trading accounts on Blockchain.com, in addition to the noncustodial wallet.
However, whether Russian users would be able to keep access to their noncustodial wallets on Blockchain.com is still up in the air. Cointelegraph reached out to the company for comment, but did not receive a timely response.
In light of the recent restrictions, Blockchain.com isn’t the first platform to suspend some services for Russians. Due to the recent EU sanctions against Russia and its nationals, major blockchain developer Dapper Labs has also stopped Russian accounts.
Crypto.com, Coinbase, and LocalBitcoins are just a few of the big exchanges and peer-to-peer platforms that are reportedly going to comply with the fines. Cointelegraph reached out to the companies for comment, but did not receive immediate responses.
As one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance is not an outlier. The company is working nonstop to enforce the new regulations for Russian citizens. It takes time to execute changes like this, a Binance representative told Cointelegraph, because the exchange must work with a number of different technology and risk management partners.
Bitfinex, Tether’s sibling exchange, was among several that have argued against cryptocurrency restrictions against ordinary Russians. Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino remarked in March 2022, “Our belief is that the actions of a government do not necessarily represent the preferences of individuals.” He also said that “unless otherwise directed by the regulatory bodies” over which Bitfinex operates, the exchange will do what it could to safeguard customer funds.
