Crypto Catch: Binance founder rejects blanket ban on Russian customers

Highlights

• Binance Exchange founder, Changpeng Zhao has rejected a blanket ban on all Russian crypto transactions, saying it’s not the place of crypto exchanges to prohibit all Russian users.
• Bitcoin held steady overnight at US$44,000 after the crypto gained almost 15% earlier in the week.
• UK advertising watchdog has banned an advertising campaign by floki Inu – the memecoin inspired by Tesla founder Elon Musk’s dog.

Binance Exchange founder, Changpeng Zhao has rejected a blanket ban on all Russian crypto transactions, saying it’s not the place of crypto exchanges to prohibit all Russian users.

As conflict continues between Russia and Ukraine, many people are concerned that Russia may evade sanctions imposed upon them by the US and the EU by using cryptocurrency.

However, Zhou told the BBC yesterday that Binance was in no position to sanction populations of people, saying the company has no political preference or affliction.

Zhao added that while there are Russian individuals on international sanctions list, it was important that Binance differentiate between Russian politicians who start war and the Russian people, many of whom are anti-war.

Fears that Russia may utilise cryptocurrency in an effort to fund their invasion of Ukraine, come after the UK, EU, US and Canada moved at the weekend to expel Russian banks from Swift, the main global payments messaging system used by banks.

Bitcoin held steady overnight at US$44,000 after the crypto gained almost 15% earlier in the week.

Ethereum has also held steady currently sitting just below US$3,000.

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UK advertising watchdog has banned an advertising campaign by floki Inu – the memecoin inspired by Tesla founder Elon Musk’s dog.

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The ad campaign, whose slogan is “missed the Doge? Get Floki” was called “irresponsible” by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) due to its exploitation of fear-of-missing-out. Furthermore, the watchdog decreed that the ad’s portrayal of cartoon dog wearing a Viking helmet trivialised investment in crypto assets.

Floki Inu have come back, saying that the cartoon dog is, in fact, the company’s corporate logo and that the ad itself was meant to target the ‘informed consumer’.

The move comes as crypto advertising has taken off in various markets around the world. During last month’s SuperBowl, ads were televised for Coinbase, eToro, FTX and Crypto.com.

However, increased advertising of digital assets has garnered increased criticism from those who believe they are targeting the naïve in an effort to swindle their money.

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Data Source: Coinmarketcap.com, based on top 100 cryptos.

Note: Growth from the 24 hours prior to 12:30pm AEDT

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