In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, countries around the world have placed a variety of sanctions on individuals and territories in recent weeks. Sanctions are an important tool for enhancing national security and preventing illegal aggression, and Coinbase fully supports government efforts in this area. Sanctions are severe measures, and it is up to governments to decide when, when, and how to use them.
To sanction Russia, Coinbase will block Russian accounts
Coinbase has a multi-layered, global sanctions policy in place to help with these important economic restrictions. They take the following steps:
Access to sanctioned actors is restricted. Coinbase validates account applications against sanctioned individual or entity lists kept by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United Nations, Singapore, Canada, and Japan during onboarding. Individuals and corporations must supply identifying information, like as their name and country of residence, in order to open a Coinbase account.
They use an outside vendor to screen this information before allowing someone to transact. Customers who reside in a sanctioned country or territory, or who have been identified as a sanctioned individual or company, are unable to open a Coinbase account. They also utilize geofencing measures to prevent access to certain areas.
Detect evasive attempts. Coinbase’s global sanctions lists, which they employ for screening, are updated on a regular basis. If someone opens a Coinbase account and is later sanctioned, the account is identified and terminated using this continuing screening procedure. Because sanction evaders frequently attempt to conceal their identity, Coinbase tries to map transactions beyond the businesses and individuals targeted by governments. This helps us to detect potentially connected parties and block accounts linked to banned actors.
Threats should be anticipated. Coinbase has a robust blockchain analytics program in place to identify high-risk activity, investigate potential dangers, and devise innovative countermeasures. They have techniques for identifying sanctioned persons’ accounts outside of Coinbase, for example, even if they don’t have direct access to their personal information.
When the US sanctioned a Russian individual in 2020, it specifically mentioned three blockchain addresses associated with him. They proactively identified over 1,200 more addresses likely related with the sanctioned individual using advanced blockchain research, which they put to their internal blocklist. This is just one illustration. Coinbase has blocked over 25,000 addresses associated with Russian persons or businesses that they suspect are involved in illegal activities, many of which they discovered through their own proactive investigations.
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