The CEO of the Kraken exchange compared the requirement to block clients from Russia with the Canadian authorities’ ban on serving Convoy Freedom crypto wallets.
Jesse Powell wrote on Twitter to the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mikhail Fedorov, that he does not intend to block the accounts of Russian users in response to the request of the official. Powell explained that he could not meet the needs of Ukraine, otherwise he would break the law:
“Despite my deep respect for the Ukrainian people, Kraken cannot freeze the accounts of our Russian clients without a legal requirement. The Russians should be aware that such a demand may become inevitable.”
The Kraken CEO added that the demand coming from the government of Ukraine is identical to the ban of the government of Canada, which used control over banks and crypto exchanges to deprive protesters of funding. The same applies to the demands of the US government, which, according to Powell, is necessary to turn the population of Russia against their own authorities. At the same time, many Kraken customers oppose the war, the CEO says.
“Bitcoin is the embodiment of libertarian values that strongly support individualism and human rights. In Canada, cryptocurrencies have been the only financial backbone for opponents of the regime.”
The head of Kraken said that the activity of the trading platform will be effective if it focuses on the individual needs of the person, and not on the needs of the government or political grouping.
Powell stressed that if the platform were going to voluntarily block the accounts of users registered under the jurisdiction of countries attacking another country and provoking violence around the world, then first of all, Kraken would freeze the accounts of users from the United States.
Last week, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) said that Jesse Powell’s crypto-related activities were directed against the Canadian authorities. Powell recently called for the withdrawal of funds from centralized exchanges after
Canadian police demanded to freeze the wallets of the participants in the Freedom Escort.
Source: Bits
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