“We are not against any human being,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said at a press conference at the Web Summit in Lisbon on Wednesday.
Binance CEO: “We Have To Follow The Rules In Our Licensed Regions”
CZ continued his words as follows:
“We are against war dictatorships, not against the people, but as a business we are licensed in many different places, we have to follow the rules.”
Asked whether Binance’s LocalBitcoins, Crypto.com, Kraken and other peers will enforce their decision to unsubscribe Russian users, CZ said he has no definitive answer yet:
“This is a difficult situation. While Binance’s licensed establishments in Europe, including France, Italy, Spain, Lithuania and Sweden, will certainly not be able to serve Russian citizens, the answer to this question in non-EU countries is not clear.
We are in communication with regulators about whether it is appropriate for us to serve Russian users. We have to see how it turns out internationally. We welcome expert advice. This is a difficult situation.”
CZ previously described Russia as a “key market” for Binance, and the exchange was hugely popular in that country.
Accounts of Russian citizens on EU-based crypto services have been closed since the EU added it to its sanctions regime against Russia a month ago to punish the country for the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The new rules broaden the scope of an earlier ban on digital wallets holding assets worth more than 10,000 euros for Russian citizens.
In the most recent iteration of the sanctions, which went into effect on Oct. 6, Russian citizens, residents and legal entities were banned from crypto-asset wallet, account or custody services “regardless of their quantity”.
European-based majors such as LocalBitcoins, Crypto.com and Blockchain.com cryptocurrency services immediately sent notifications to Russian users that their accounts will be suspended soon. Kraken, a US-based exchange with branches in Europe, has also restricted the accounts of Russian citizens, Russian news site Forklog reported.
*Not investment advice.
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