Some Russian clients’ accounts, according to reports, may be restricted until May 31. According to Russian media, the largest American cryptocurrency platform has offered to withdraw its funds unless it can demonstrate that they are not subject to European Union sanctions.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had an impact on many fields, including cryptocurrency. According to a source, the cryptocurrency site Coinbase told some Russian customers that their accounts would be suspended at the end of the month.

This notice only applies to Coinbase customers in Russia and was delivered through email.
Customers are advised to remove their funds or to demonstrate that they are not subject to sanctions imposed under the scope of the European Union.
They will be able to avoid the cancellation of their accounts if necessary.

According to the email:

“You must withdraw all funds from your account or present us with appropriate paperwork confirming that you do not fall under these sanctions until May 31, 2022.”

Week after week, the European Union pulls out all the brakes to further constrain Russia. It prohibited the supply of “high-value” crypto-asset services to Russian organizations and residents in a new wave of sanctions adopted by member states in response to the war in Ukraine.

Coinbase’s move follows the tweet of the company’s legal director, Paul Grewal, on May 3rd, who claimed that the platform could no longer provide services to specific Russian customers subject to EU sanctions:

I sometimes get asked how @coinbase is handling the EU’s most recent sanctions targeting Russia. We take sanctions compliance very seriously. We also take transparency about our overall program very seriously. https://t.co/h08YXYybNm. So I wanted to share further here.

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) May 3, 2022

Paul Grewal told consumers that the platform works in an educational manner with them, assisting them to either withdraw their cash if they are concerned about the EU sanctions or to give the necessary documentation indicating that they are not concerned.
because of these.

The company’s goal is not to penalize Russian clients without giving them an option, by immediately blocking their accounts.
By the way, the American exchange’s services are still available to non-sanctioned Russian customers who are not situated in the European Union.