INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
CoinZoom To Block New Accounts Within Russia, Says CEO to ReutersUtah-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinZoom is pausing applications for new
accounts within Russia following the country's escalating conflict in Ukraine, the company's chief executive officer told Reuters.While
CoinZoom is a lesser-known crypto exchange, it is one of the first to halt new business operations in Russia
Most exchanges thus far have resisted calls to block Russian users despite pleas from the Ukrainian government.Coinbase, Kraken and Binance
have said that while they will comply with Western sanctions, they would not block Russian users without a legal requirement to do
so.CoinZoom Chief Executive Todd Crosland said the company decided to suspend new accounts because it was unclear how customers would fund
Major payment firms are pulling out of Russia."It's a very fluid situation in Russia right now, and it's very fluid with regulators, so
eliminated for Russian customers right now," Crosland said in an interview.CoinZoom is not blocking its existing Russian account holders,
but screening them against sanctions lists, said Crosland.On Saturday, United States payments firms Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc said they
were suspending operations in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.Crypto exchanges have drawn criticism for refusing to block Russian users,
particularly after Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov last month asked crypto exchanges to block the digital wallet addresses
of Russian users.Kraken CEO Jesse Powell on Twitter cited the "libertarian values" of cryptocurrencies as one of the significant reasons
Kraken would continue operating in Russia.A spokesperson for Binance said in a statement that banning access to crypto "would fly in the
face of the reason why crypto exists."(This story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated
