Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) has blocked 25,000 crypto addresses that were “related to Russian individuals or entities we believe to be engaging in illicit activity”.
Credit card giants Visa Inc (NYSE:V) and Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) suspended operations in Russia over the weekend and many experts are claiming that the country may try to escape the West's sanctions by using cryptocurrencies.
“Sanctions play a vital role in promoting national security and deterring unlawful aggression, and Coinbase fully supports these efforts by government authorities,” said Paul Grewal, chief legal officer.
Crypto wallets can be anonymous but transactions are "traceable, permanent, and public" and accounts indirectly linked to banned users were found via “sophisticated blockchain analytics,” Grewal said.
For example, the exchange identified a 2020 sanction against one individual Russian with up to 1,200 linked accounts, the Verge noted.
Meanwhile, Coinbase claimed Russia is too big to evade sanctions via crypto and stated its beneficial uses to Ukraine.
“The Russian government and other sanctioned actors would need virtually unobtainable amounts of digital assets to meaningfully counteract current sanctions,” Grewal wrote in a blog post.
A Ukraine digital currency fundraiser already raised roughly US$54mln as of late last week.