Coinbase Suspends 25,000 Russia-related Addresses
Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, has announced it has blocked more than 25,000 addresses associated with Russian individuals or legal entities that are reportedly engaged in illegal activities.
According to the platform, these accounts were identified through its own investigations and the addresses were turned over to the US government. The exchange has reported:
“Over the past few weeks, governments around the world have imposed a range of sanctions. Sanctions play a vital role in promoting national security and deterring illegal aggression, and Coinbase fully supports these government efforts.”
A Coinbase spokesperson has said the company wants to contribute supporting economic sanctions.
To this end, the exchange is taking steps to block access, identify attempts to evade sanctions and “anticipate threats.” How? Procedures have been developed to match potential customers against lists of sanctioned individuals or entities and track IP addresses belonging to sanctioned countries such as North Korea.
