Cryptocurrency platform blocks 25,000 Russian accounts

Coinbase says it shared addresses of the blocked “Russian” accounts with the US government.

Cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase has announced it blocked thousands of accounts related to Russians. The site has vowed to support sanctions imposed by the West on Russia.

“Today, Coinbase blocks over 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals or entities we believe to be engaging in illicit activity, many of which we have identified through our own proactive investigations,” the company announced in a statement on Monday.

While the platform did not specify the type of prohibited activity the accounts had allegedly been involved in, it noted that the sanctioned addresses had been already handed over to the US authorities.

Once we identified these addresses, we shared them with the government to further support sanctions enforcement

Coinbase further claimed the West’s sanctions “play a vital role in promoting national security and deterring unlawful aggression,” and said the company “fully supports these efforts by government authorities.”

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced last week that his company was complying with sanctions against Russia by blocking the accounts of Russian citizens who are clients of several major Russian banks that were hit by the penalties.

At the time, he insisted, however, that the exchange was not “pre-emptively” blacklisting Russians, arguing that “everyone deserves access to basic financial services”.