The Financial Services Agency (FSA) and Japan’s Ministry of Finance have decided to impose penalties on all crypto exchange platforms that refuse to block services or access to Russia in the wake of the Ukrainian invasion.
Based on an official statement published yesterday, any crypto exchange platform involved in accessing services to blocked entities can be sentenced to up to 3 years in prison or a fine of 1 million yen (RM35,726).
Not enough of that, all crypto exchange platforms are required to send a report to the FSA if any transactions are made to the blocked entities.
For the record, the decision taken after the G7 agreed to block cryptocurrencies completely against Russia so that the country does not stick out of economic sanctions.
Indirectly, this is also a sign of support for the call of the deputy president of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov who has repeatedly called on crypto entities to stop the ability to access services to Russia.
For the record, South Korean crypto exchange platforms such as Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit first decommissioned their services for the whole of Russia.
Even so, the major platforms - Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken are reluctant to do so because they believe there are still no Russian users abusing their services.
It's just that Coinbase has suspended more than 25,000 Russian -born owner accounts for being believed to be involved in illegal activities.
