The Swiss authorities intend to freeze the digital assets of Russians stored on centralized sites in the country. The reason was the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia.
The Financial Times, citing representatives of the Swiss Ministry of Finance, reports that the freezing of Russian cryptocurrencies is necessary to “ensure the integration of the blockchain industry into the financial industry.” As of December 2021, there were approximately 1,128 blockchain and cryptocurrency companies registered in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Naturally, the Swiss authorities will not be able to freeze the assets stored in the cold wallets of Russians. But they will be able to intercept them if the cryptocurrencies are stored on centralized sites operating in Swiss jurisdiction, or pass through controlled services. The company EMCD, which manages a large mining pool, said that it would not block the accounts of Russians.
“First of all, you need to be human. Civilians are the first to suffer from hostilities. EMCD will not restrict access to the services provided, because this is contrary to the principles of the blockchain and violates the praesumptio innocentiae (presumption of innocence) principle,” said Michael Jerlis, founder of EMCD.
Recall that recently one of the largest Ethereum mining pools Ethermine announced the termination of work with users from Russia and Belarus.
Source: Bits
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