Coinbase Blocks 25,000 Addresses Related To Russian Individuals And Entities
According to an official blog post published today, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, located in the United States, has chosen to block access to more than 25,000 addresses associated with Russian persons alleged to be involved in illicit activity. The action comes only a few days after the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said that the company would comply with Russian restrictions.
"Today, Coinbase blocks over 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals or entities we believe to be engaging in illicit activity, many of which we have identified through our own proactive investigations," said the blog post.
According to the top US exchange, in response to the recent monetary sanctions imposed on Russia by governments around the world, the exchange expresses its complete support for these efforts by government authorities and its commitment to fully complying with sanctions in order to achieve its goal of building a safe and responsible financial system.
"We earn that trust by working hard to ensure the integrity of all transactions supported by our platform, and a critical part of that goal is our compliance with economic sanctions," said the blog post.
Coinbase claims that over 1,200 new addresses with suspected linkages to sanctioned persons have been detected and restricted using extensive blockchain analysis. Once these addresses have been identified, they are shared with the government to assist in implementing sanctions.
Coinbase implements a global sanctions program
Towards this end, Coinbase has implemented a multi-layered, global sanctions program that will block access to sanctioned individuals or entities on its constantly updated list, terminate accounts that are attempting to evade sanctions and those associated with prohibited individuals or entities, and anticipate threats by utilizing a sophisticated blockchain analytics program to identify high-risk behavior and study emerging threats, among other things.