Ukraine-based crypto exchange WhiteBIT will be forced to close its Russian operations after the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office designated the firm “undesirable” and accused it of illegally financing Ukraine’s military.
According to Bits Media, WhiteBIT and its parent company W Group have been of moving funds out of Russia since 2022 and directing $11 million towards Ukraine’s armed forces. From this, roughly $900,000 was allegedly used to procure drones.
The W Group “conducted various transactions, including those used to organize shadow schemes for withdrawing funds from Russia, as well as other illegal activities,” the designation states.
WhiteBIT allegedly cooperated with Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and also provides technical support to United24, a group that has raised over $3 billion to support Ukraine during the war.
Read more: UK mirrors US sanctions against Russian crypto networks
In 2022, WhiteBIT had already announced a “memorandum of cooperation” agreement with Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help Ukrainians impacted by the Russian invasion.
The undesirable designation allows prosecutors within Russia’s legal system to target foreign entities and shut them down if they deem them a threat to the Russian Federation. The Moscow branches of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch were some of the first organizations to be designated as “undesirable.”
Russia doesn’t want crypto going to Ukraine
Russia previosuly banned crypto mining across the invaded regions of Ukraine back in 2024 while attempting to negate the impacts of winter on its electricity industry.
In that same year, a man was arrested very publicly for “high treason” after allegedly sending crypto to Ukraine’s armed forces with the aim of helping them “purchase weapons, ammunition, and uniforms.”
It’s been 1,432 days since Russia invaded Ukraine. Talks between Ukraine, the US, and Russia took place last week in Abu Dhabi, where they continued to negotiate the terms of any potential peace deal.
Russia still continues to operate outside of Western sanctions, and Elliptic reports that A7A5, a ruble-backed stablecoin with ties to the Kremlin, has reached $100 billion in transactions.
The currency helps Russian businesses avoid the US stablecoin tether, which is prone to freezes. Additionally, large sums of A7A5 were reportedly destroyed to help move operations away from the sanctioned crypto exchange Garantex.
WhiteBIT says it already banned Russia
In an email to Protos, WhiteBIT said that it “is aware of the decision announced by the Russian Prosecutor’s Office and considers it the strongest confirmation of the company’s clear and consistent pro-Ukrainian position.
It continues, “Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, WhiteBIT took a principled stance: it blocked all users from Russia and Belarus and discontinued trading pairs with the Russian ruble.
“As a result of this decision, the exchange lost approximately 30% of its user base at the time.
The statement also claims, “WhiteBIT has consistently maintained a pro-Ukrainian position,” and highlights how “over the four years of full-scale war, WhiteBIT has donated around 11 million USD of its own funds to support Ukraine’s defense forces and humanitarian initiatives for civilians.
“These actions reflect the company’s values and civic position as a business with roots in Ukraine operating during wartime.
“WhiteBIT does not operate in the Russian market and has had no users or business activity there since 2022. The company remains focused on global growth, transparency, and supporting Ukraine, and stands by the values that guided its decisions from the outset.”
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The post Russia bans ‘undesirable’ WhiteBIT four years after WhiteBIT bans Russia appeared first on Protos.
