As Russia continues to bombard Ukraine amid geopolitical tensions, Hillary Clinton, the former first lady of the United States and a presidential candidate, has expressed concern that rapid and untraceable crypto transactions might become a financial escape hatch for Russia. For the time being, the Democratic senator has blasted the US and European governments for not forcing crypto exchanges in their own countries to limit all transactions to Russia. Clinton’s concerns came from Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine.
Clinton, 74, was speaking with MSNBC when she lashed out at US Vice President Joe Biden’s administration, as well as European countries, for failing to take harsh measures effectively banning Russia from the cryptocurrency industry.
“I was disappointed to see that some of the so-called crypto exchanges, not all of them but some of them, are refusing to end transactions with Russia for some, I don’t know, philosophy of libertarianism or whatever,” she said.
“In this specific case of Ukraine, I do think that the Treasury Department [and] the Europeans should look hard at how they can prevent the crypto markets from giving an escape hatch to Russia, both governmental and private transactions in and out of Russia,” Clinton added.
Ukraine has begun accepting bitcoin donations from across the world to get essential funding during these trying times. Over the weekend, Ukraine’s official Twitter account disclosed cryptocurrency wallet addresses for donations in Bitcoin and Ether.
“If there has to be legal or regulatory pressure, everybody should do as much as possible to isolate Russian economic activity right now,” Clinton noted. She has previously supported bitcoin regulation.
International cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase have so far refused to comply with Ukraine’s request that all Russian accounts be blocked.
“Crypto is intended to increase the financial freedom of people worldwide. It would be unproductive if people were unilaterally denied access to their crypto. According to a CNBC report, a Binance official said, “We will not arbitrarily terminate the accounts of millions of innocent people.”
