Bahamas-based crypto exchange, FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, has finally clarified his company’s stance on imposing sanctions and commented on the perception around the crypto industry’s stance on the bans.
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, several countries have imposed sanctions on Russian banks in an attempt to weaken its economy.
On 27 February, Ukraine’s vice prime minister took to Twitter to ask cryptocurrency exchanges to impose similar sanctions against all Russian users.
Major crypto exchanges such as Kraken and Binance have complied with the targeted sanctions however refused to comply with this request, stating that it goes against the basic inclusivity principle of crypto.
Almost a month later, “I think it has not been helpful. I think it has been basically anti-regulatory, is how it’s been perceived, and I think that’s how it sounds, and I think that has caused a pretty big perception issue,” said the FTX founder on the sidelines of a Futures Industry Association conference in Boca Raton, Florida.
He feels that communications from the cryptocurrency industry around sanctions on Russia have been counterproductive and do not reflect what the firms are actually doing.
“I don’t think this is really about the content of the decisions,” Bankman-Fried said of Kraken’s and Binance’s response. “It’s about the way that they’ve been presented.”
This statement comes from the fact that even though the crypto industry has complied with all the necessary sanctions, and only refused to ban non-sanctioned Russian users, it is portrayed as an industry recalcitrant towards the sanctions.
While Bankman-Fried blames the industry itself for the false image, Binance CEO, Chengpeng Zao blames it on the media.
The third-largest crypto exchange platform by volume, FTX has cut off support to all sanctioned parties and all Russian banks (even non-sanctioned banks).
Non-sanctioned Russian users, however, can still use the platform, although strict money-laundering checks are in place. FTX is also in communication with the US Treasury about what it is doing in Russia.
FTX exchange went a step ahead and partnered with the Kuna Exchange and Everstake to help the Ukrainian government develop a website to accept crypto donations.
