Coinbase management issued a public statement a few days ago that it intends to comply with the central government policies. It is worth noting that in the matter of Freedom Convoy, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong issued warnings to the customers claiming that the company wanted to preserve the civil liberties of citizens. Armstrong also claimed state talking about Freedom Convoy that the Canadian government is violating everything that the cryptocurrency market stands for.
However, only a few weeks later, the cryptocurrency exchange has decided to break its blockchain net neutrality rules taking sides with the western bloc. It is worth mentioning that the Freedom Convoy is a group of Canadian Truckers who were protesting the mandatory COVID vaccination certification rules by the government.
Kraken’s CEO claimed that the exchange would not take part in any type of account blocking. However, Coinbase has already proceeded to block around 25,000 user accounts hailing from Russia. Other exchange platforms like Binance took a milder approach with permitting the blockade of Russian accounts that belonged to a person of interest only.
The step was taken upon the request of the Ukraine deputy PM. The mandate accepted by Coinbase seeks to block the accounts of Russian politicians oligarchs and extend the blacklisting to their children, family members, friends, and relatives. Coinbase also admitted that the exchange platform shared all the information from the Russian accounts with the government agencies.
Westerns Countries Imposed Heavy Sanctions Against Russia
One of the main reasons for the Russian aggression towards Ukraine is the strict financial sanctions imposed by the western bloc on the country. However, it seems that both sides are not ready to compromise and talk about the matter. The biggest outcome from the clash of titans is the disappearance of the decentralization ideology from the crypto market.
A blockchain ensures the presence of financial transactions without the presence of any centralized enterprises. However, the main benefactors of blockchain technology are miners and exchange platforms. These exchange platforms can become biased like Coinbase at their convenience. The idea that blockchain networks provide relief from high remittance fees also becomes futile after examining Ethereum networks where the transaction fees are inflated beyond comparison.