The European Union has targeted Russia again. In its fifth package of sanctions against Moscow, it has earmarked crypto wallets, banks, currencies, and potential assets that Russians could use for laundering outside the country. Therefore, the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance has decided to limit its crypto-related services for Russian users.
Consequently, Binance will offer limited services in the sanctioned country to the users and organizations having crypto assets beyond the value of 10,000 Euros ($10,883). According to the latest blog post issued today, the crypto exchange requires a proof-of-address verification of all the users residing in Russia and entities based in the country.
In addition, such decisions have been taken after much contemplation when the company has already banned the sanctioned Russian banks from its platform. Further, it confirmed that the cardholders of the sanctioned Russian banks will not be able to use the Binance platform.
Binance explained that the impacted crypto accounts can be accessed for withdrawal purposes only and deposit of money will be allowed. Also, the crypto account balances exceeding more than 10,000 euros on Binance will going to have only 90 days to close their accounts.
Moreover, the Russian nationals residing outside of Russia, having a valid proof of address and crypto account balance below 10,000 euros will be remained unaffected and active. The same goes for the legal entities established in Russia or any person residing inside the country.
Likewise, Binance have suggested other crypto exchanges to regulate the same idea sooner over the EU sanctioned confirmations. On the other hand, Binance CEO ‘CZ’ have termed the expanding sanctions as ‘unethical’ to support million of crypto executives. Binance have surely done its part to establish compliance with the European Union sanction list but it will not ‘unethically freeze millions of innocent people accounts’.
