• Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked major crypto exchanges to block addresses of Russian users.
• Fedorov had previously searched for details about crypto wallets that belonged to Russian or Belarusian politicians.
• Ukrainian Lawyer Artem Afian plans to share the list with top crypto exchanges and Chainalysis and mark them as ‘toxic’.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked major crypto exchanges to block addresses of Russian users. In a tweet, Fedorov stressed that exchanges shouldn’t only block Russian and Belarusian politicians but also ‘sabotage ordinary users’.

I’m asking all major crypto exchanges to block 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) February 27, 2022

Binance responded in correspondence with Bloomberg that it would not freeze millions of user accounts as it goes against crypto’s values. Binance’s spokesperson said that the company will take all necessary action to minimize any impact on innocent users.

This follows Fedorov’s tweet the previous day calling out to Twitter (NYSE:) for information regarding crypto wallets of Russian and Belarusian politicians. Fedorov stated in the tweet that ‘War crimes must be pursued and punished’.

Artem Afian, a Ukrainian lawyer is responsible for managing information about politician accounts. Afian will share Afian’s list of addresses with major crypto exchanges as well as blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. The goal, according to Afian, is to mark the addresses as ‘toxic’ and discourage people and businesses from transacting with them. “We want them to understand that they are not welcome in Ukraine or in crypto,” Afian added.

Chainalysis sent out a number of tweets Saturday asking whether Russia was using crypto to avoid sanctions. He further added that it’s optimistic that the cryptocurrency industry can counter attempts by Russian actors to evade sanctions using crypto.

The Ukrainian government already uses Twitter to raise millions of dollars in crypto donations. The country also posted on online hacker forums, stating that it seeks help to combat cyberattacks.

Multiple exchanges place restrictions on users located in Russia and Belarus. Kuna and Whitebit are just a few of the exchanges that have imposed restrictions on users based in Russia or Belarus.

Similarly, DMarket – a crypto platform trading NFTs related to gaming and metaverse – said it severed all relationships with the mentioned aggressors. It also froze the accounts of existing users from these countries.

The Western countries agreed on Saturday to deconnect selected Russian banks using SWIFT. The countries included the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, European Commission and several EU member state, including France, Italy and Germany.

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