Hilary Clinton Blasts Biden Over Failure To Block Russian Users On Crypto Exchanges

Hillary Clinton has lambasted the Biden administration and European governments for failing to put pressure on Bitcoin firms to halt dealing with Russian customers.

She believes that regulators should "pay special attention to how they can prevent the crypto markets from becoming an escape hatch for Russia, both governmental and private transactions in and out of Russia."

According to bitcoin.com, the former first lady, U.S. senator, secretary of state, and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate slammed the Biden administration, the Treasury Department, and European governments for allowing Russians to use cryptocurrency as a form of survival.

Clinton stated in response to some major cryptocurrency exchanges' refusal to block all Russian users' accounts: "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."

"If there has to be legal or regulatory pressure, everyone should do everything they can to isolate Russian economic activities right now," she added.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's vice prime minister, tweeted on Sunday, requesting that all major cryptocurrency exchanges restrict the addresses of all Russian users, including regular users.

"It's critical to freeze not just addresses associated with Russian and Belarusian authorities, but also addresses associated with the sabotage of regular people," he tweeted.

Several large cryptocurrency exchanges, however, have stated that they would not cooperate, refusing to freeze all Russian consumers' accounts. Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken are among them.

However, the exchanges will conform with sanctions rules.

Jesse Powell, CEO of crypto exchange Kraken, emphasized that his exchange can only suspend the accounts of Russian customers if a government requires it, recalling what happened in Canada during the Freedom Convoy trucker protest.

Powell, on the other hand, recommended anyone concerned about their accounts being frozen to transfer their coins away from exchanges and into self-custody.

Clinton believes that governments should do more to prevent cryptocurrency from being used to circumvent sanctions.

"In this specific example of Ukraine, I do believe that the Treasury Department [and] the Europeans should look carefully at how they can prevent the crypto markets from providing an escape hatch for Russia, both official and private transactions in and out of Russia.

"I would hope that someone at the Treasury Department is attempting to find out how to close the faulty valves in the crypto market that would allow Russia to avoid the full force of the sanctions," she said.

Clinton urged the Biden administration to regulate Bitcoin in November, warning of Russian and Chinese influence.

She also expressed concern that bitcoin might destabilize states and threaten the US dollar's status as the world's reserve currency.