Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Crypto Should Remain Neutral
It's about 7 days since the unfortunate situation between Russia and Ukraine. I'm not here to go into details but I believe that there are better and more amicable ways to settle disputes. It doesn't have to always come down to fights, destruction, bombings, and killings. Life is far more precious than power and domination. We should always remember that.
I've never experienced war before but I have heard and read stories of wars. If there's one thing I discovered, it is that war changes a lot of things. It brings about hopelessness, pain, losses (both life and properties), death among others. For this reason, we should shun wars at all costs. I'm seeing people already calling it WW3; I know and hope that it doesn't grow to that extent.
Currently, the adverse effect of the war is very visible. The financial markets have been affected, businesses have been affected, countries have been directly and indirectly affected, individuals are being affected, lives have been lost so far and friends are now foes. This is not the kind of news I want to be reading so, I can only pray and hope that this fight ends.
Crypto Doesn't Take Sides
It is well-known that Russia has received lots of sanctions for literally starting the war. Different penalties have been meted out on the country in the areas of business, sports, imports, exports, etc. Are these sanctions equal to the lives lost in the process? Of course not. But that's not the aim of this post.
Ukraine's government thinks that Russia can evade the historic sanctions apportioned to them through cryptocurrency. In turn, Ukraine's vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov sent a message to about 6 major crypto exchanges to block addresses of Russian users and Belarusian politicians.
I'm asking all major crypto exchanges to block the addresses of Russian users. It's crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians but also to sabotage ordinary users. - Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo)
Yes, it could be possible for the Russian government to elude some of these sanctions. However, I do not think it is the right move to ask exchanges to interfere in such a manner. This is just my opinion. If exchanges decide to do so then crypto would be going against what it stands for - freedom, ownership, privacy, zero-control by the government among others.
On the other hand, is it really possible to evade these sanctions through cryptocurrency? This I can't tell for now and I'll welcome your contributions.
Exchanges Stance
As it should be, crypto exchanges involved like Binance and Kraken have made their decision known in response to Ukraine's request. Binance says it will not block or freeze accounts of Russian users. On the other hand, Jesse Powell noted that Kraken exchange will not also block accounts of Russian clients except there's a legal requirement to do so.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Those sanctions hurt only simple citizens who live in Russia, those who are ruling will be always ok. I live in the Russian south, and I see how sanctions are already hurting us simple Russian citizens. Some banks aren't working, many websites are blocked, many companies are leaving the country, even there are countries who don't accept Russian travelers. What all those people have to do with war. Nothing, but they are all punished for the mistakes of others. Big players are playing war games and little have to suffer. It's how the world always worked, it hurts because I live in Russia, but Russia was always attacked. Even in the movies they always show that Russians are the bad guys. It's a war that started a long time ago and still continue, now Ukraine is their battlefield, before it was Syria, and in the future you will see more little countries get hurt by them. They will always blame each other, and divide citizens of the world, that's a technic of control. ''Divide and rule''.