As tensions continue to escalate between Russia and Ukraine, the EU is taking major steps to ensure that Russia is able to stop in its tracks and fall back on its assault on Ukraine. One of the many sanctions that the EU posed on Russia was to block any and all crypto transactions in the country.
Over the course of the last month, various companies are slowly making their way out of the country. Despite expanding to Russia to meet rising demand, many of the crypto exchanges have to close down their operations and move out of the country.
Possibly the worst part about them having to leave this way is that they have to force their investors to withdraw their funds before a certain time. Unfortunately, Kraken was another crypto exchange that found itself in that very unfortunate position.
The company had to send out similar emails to all of its clients, some of which have been with the firm for years now, to extract their funds. Some of the older traders had to withdraw their funds at a significant loss, which made things much worse for many traders who did not ask for this decision.
Sending Out the Notice
According to various officials that were working for Kraken at the time, drafting and sending out the emails was one of the most difficult tasks that they had to undertake since it was a lose-lose situation. They could not possibly get the best out of this situation, and they did not want to come off as apathetic to the loss they would be suffering.
The team sent out a notice to all of its users that they would be locking down and restricting various individual’s accounts. Instead of being able to withdraw their funds as they normally would, individuals would have to make an official request.
Taking Out Money at a Loss
As of now, the crypto exchange is not allowing people to transfer the funds in their accounts to a different exchange. Instead, they will have to withdraw their money at a loss, which in some cases could be worth thousands or even millions.
The Kraken team also made it clear that they would be informing their support team about any changes that occur internationally. And from the support team, most of the individuals will be able to find out.
Why Ban Crypto?
Unfortunately, for the many traders in Russia that were acting out of good faith, a handful of militias were gathering funding through crypto. And since these militias would then go on to fight in Ukraine, the best way to stop them was to cut off their funding. And the best way that the EU saw to do that was by banning crypto.
