Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, has revealed that it plans to launch sanctions against Russian individuals and has since blocked over 25,000 account linked to Russians. Coinbase stated that it plans to implement policies that combat the use of its platform for illicit activity. After an investigation that produced the list of 25,000 accounts, Coinbase shared the names with the government to support sanctions enforcement. Coinbase stated that when a user opens an account, its software automatically checks provided information against a list of sanctioned individuals provided by several entities, including the US, UK, EU, UN, Singapore, Canada, Japan, Crimea, and more.
In addition, the company maintains a list of accounts held by sanctioned people outside of Coinbase. Coinbase explained that they were able to launch an initial investigation in 2020, when the US sanctioned a Russian national and listed three associated blockchain addresses. From there, Coinbase performed advanced blockchain analysis and identified over a thousand addresses possibly associated with the individual. However, cryptocurrency money trails are complex and can be very difficult to trace.
Read More: Coinbase blocks 25,000 Russian-linked accounts and promotes crypto over fiat for sanctions
