WhiteBIT Pushes Back Against Russia Ban, Says It Left Market in 2022
WhiteBIT denied claims made by Russia’s Prosecutor General alleging that it facilitated unlawful fund transfers out of Russia to finance Ukraine’s armed forces.
The Ukrainian crypto change asserted it stopped working in Russian territory since wae broke out between the 2 international locations.
WhiteBIT Rejects Russia’s Allegations
In an official assertion, WhiteBIT pushed back against Russia’s ban, stating that it had utterly ceased operations in the nation shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
“Following the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, WhiteBIT took a principled stance: it blocked all customers from Russia and Belarus, and discontinued buying and selling pairs with the Russian ruble,” it learn.
The centralized change additionally famous that this choice value the corporate roughly 30% of its person base on the time.
These clarifications come days after Russia’s Prosecutor General introduced a ban on WhiteBIT, labeling it an “undesirable group.”
The transfer adopted Russia’s allegations that the change facilitated illegal fund transfers in another country and helped finance Ukraine’s armed forces.
Alleged Transfers Described As Donations
Russian authorities accused WhiteBIT’s administration of transferring roughly $11 million to Ukraine since 2022. In response, WhiteBIT clarified that the funds didn’t originate from inside Russia.
“Over the 4 years of full-scale struggle, WhiteBIT has donated round 11 million USD of its personal funds to assist Ukraine’s protection forces and humanitarian initiatives for civilians,” it mentioned.
Among different allegations, Russian officers claimed that WhiteBIT offered technical assist to UNITED24, Ukraine’s state-backed crypto donation platform.
WhiteBIT confirmed that it had labored with United24 by enabling Whitepay, a crypto-processing service used to facilitate cryptocurrency donations for the platform and different humanitarian foundations in Ukraine.
“In complete, WhiteBIT and Whitepay have facilitated greater than 160 million USD in crypto donations, supporting each humanitarian and defense-related fundraising.”
The change concluded by stating that, regardless of the preliminary lack of customers after exiting the Russian market, its enterprise has grown greater than eightfold.
Ukraine Accelerates Crypto Use During War
Although Ukraine has lengthy been an early adopter of cryptocurrencies, adoption accelerated significantly following Russia’s invasion.
Individuals more and more turned to cryptocurrencies for fundraising and donations, as they provided quicker and extra environment friendly methods to ship funds the place they have been wanted. This shift started even earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to an Elliptic report, Ukrainian NGOs and volunteer teams created crypto wallets to obtain donations, raising just over $570,000 in 2021 alone.
By February 2022, the Ukrainian parliament handed laws formally legalizing cryptocurrencies.
One 12 months into Russia’s struggle on Ukraine, these figures had elevated by roughly 122-fold. A 2023 Chainalysis report confirmed that donations to addresses offered by the Ukrainian authorities had grown to nearly $70 million.
Cryptocurrency use stays widespread amongst Ukrainians. While fundamental laws has legalized digital belongings, authorities proceed working towards complete regulation and a proper tax framework.
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