Russia-Ukraine Conflict Tests Crypto Corporate Values

Crypto assets have played a major role in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Not long ago, Ukraine opened a donation channel for encrypted assets such as BTC and ETH, and has raised more than $37 million in encrypted assets. On the other hand, countries such as Ukraine have called on crypto companies such as exchanges to take sides and call on them to freeze the accounts of Russian users to prevent Russia from using crypto assets to evade sanctions.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhailo Fedorov recently emphasized on social media that not only addresses related to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also addresses of ordinary users should be frozen.

Immediately after, DMarket, a native Ukrainian game NFT trading platform, announced that it would freeze the accounts of Russian and Belarusian users, which means that the assets of these account owners cannot be withdrawn. After this decision was announced, DMarket was mired in controversy, with many even calling it “theft”, accusing it of violating the spirit of decentralization and harming innocent users.

Exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance are relatively neutral. Binance said it has no plans to unilaterally ban Russian users, but will take necessary steps to take action against those sanctioned. Coinbase and Kraken exchanges have also taken a similar stance.

Under the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as encrypted assets are functioning, encrypted companies that claim to be “decentralized” are facing the test of their values.

NFT platform DMarket freezes Russian user accounts, causing controversy

As an emerging asset of globalization, encrypted assets are being involved in the whirlpool of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. As the United States, France and other countries have announced sanctions against Russia, encryption companies that have always advocated decentralization are also facing the problem of choosing a position.

On February 27, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, launched an appeal on social media for crypto-asset exchanges to freeze the accounts of all Russian users to help Ukraine protect itself from terrorism. invaded. He stressed that not only addresses related to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also addresses of ordinary users should be frozen.

A few days ago, Fedorov just announced that Ukraine accepts crypto-asset donations and announced the USDT donation addresses in BTC, ETH and TRC20 formats. The Ukrainian government official believes that crypto assets play an important role in the war.

After Fedorov's call came out, the first response was a game NFT trading market called DMarket. The platform announced that, as a startup born in Ukraine, it has decided to cut all ties with Russia and Belarus. From now on, Russian and Belarusian users are banned from registering on the platform; user accounts previously registered in these regions are frozen; all assets and skins remain in user accounts, but access to their use is currently restricted; the platform no longer supports Russia ruble.

In order to emphasize its position, DMarket also posted the slogan "Stand with Ukraine and say no to Russian aggression" on the homepage of its official website, and attached the blockchain address where Ukraine received donations.

DMarket shows support for Ukraine on its official website

DMarket's move was quickly noticed by Fedorov. He praised DMarket's approach on Twitter, and said funds from frozen accounts could be donated to wars, "awesome."

DMarket's decision and Fedorov's remarks sparked huge controversy. In the Twitter comment area, some netizens rebuked Fedorov, saying, "This is disgusting, this is money stolen from innocent users, it has nothing to do with war, and it runs counter to the overall philosophy of encryption and Web3." A netizen accused DMarket, saying, "I don't think you understand crypto assets. Are you proud of centralization? Stealing money from innocent people is not good at all."

DMarket’s unilateral freezing of user assets in Russia and Belarus has also made many onlookers question the decentralized nature of the encryption field. Some people said that “the slogan of decentralization becomes ridiculous in the face of war.” In fact, DMarket trades as game items Although the platform has always claimed to use blockchain technology, not all NFTs are kept by users like OpenSea. DMarket has set up a centralized identity authentication system. If users want to buy "Counter-Strike" and other games on the platform, To drop items and NFTs, account registration and login are required first, and the items are stored in the user's account.

In this way, DMarket is not a real decentralized application. After the incident, DMarket has been criticized by many crypto people, but some believe that as a Ukrainian startup, boycotting Russian users is an understandable decision.