“We do not intend to unilaterally freeze the accounts of millions of innocent users. Cryptocurrencies are supposed to give people around the world more financial freedom,” a company spokesperson said.
On Sunday, Binance announced that it was donating ten million dollars (220 million CZK) to humanitarian causes in Ukraine. Donations will be distributed to non-governmental non-profit organizations.
Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov, who is also Minister of Digital Transformation, has asked for donations in cryptocurrency on Twitter. “Side with the Ukrainian people. We are now accepting donations in cryptocurrency,” he wrote on the social network. He also publishes wallet addresses for the cryptocurrencies bitcoin, ethereum, and tether. It was also Fedorov who asked cryptocurrency exchanges to block Russian accounts.
Western allies have stepped up efforts to punish Russia with new sanctions, cutting most Russian banks off the SWIFT global payments system. Russia’s central bank assets will also be frozen, limiting the country’s access to its foreign exchange reserves.
European stocks weakened on tough anti-Russian sanctions, with the pan-European STOXX Europe 600 index depreciating about 1.3 percent in the morning. Concerns about supply, oil prices rose. North Sea Brent added nearly five percent this morning. According to dedicated website CoinDesk, the most famous cryptocurrency bitcoin lost more than two percent to around $38,200. The ruble weakened against the dollar about 22 percent.
