The cryptocurrency market has gained huge attention in the ongoing Ukraine invasion by Russian forces.
Caroline Bowler, CEO of BTC Markets, stated that the concerns over the use of cryptocurrencies by Russian entities to evade sanctions have been overblown and repeated.
She made this known during an interview with Bloomberg a few hours ago. She said;
“If you look at blockchain, they have the technical know-how. Also, the relevant security forces. We have the capability to enforce sanctions at the crypto exchange level both in terms of the indigent — individual companies and transactions. the other major crypto exchanges always block out the Russian sanction entities.”
The BTC Market’s CEO added that there is an increase in the adoption of Bitcoin at the moment due to the ongoing unrest in Ukraine. More people are seeing the actual value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. She added that;
“What we are seeing in the data, this uptake in Bitcoin, in particular, relates to retail. they are aggressively out there buying in small amounts, but they are out there are aggressively buying Bitcoin in particular.”
Bowler said she is confident that the adoption of cryptocurrencies will continue to grow over the coming years. She stated that;
“We are probably seeing the test case for cryptocurrency and bitcoin, in particular, we have often talked about it being decentralized. also, being globalized at any one point in time. I think this particular crisis in Ukraine is showing that.”
The CEOs of some cryptocurrency exchanges have maintained that they won’t freeze Russian-linked accounts unless they are sanctions. Bowler maintained that BTC Markets would also not block out Russians from accessing its services. She said;
“I think it could go to international standards, but we are not cutting out the regular Russians or Ukrainians or other people who are trying to access store value without the fluctuation in currency. Look at what happened recently in Canada. They have cut out at the stroke of a pen without any legal recourse. the cryptocurrency industry circumnavigates that and gives people the opportunity to retain their wealth.”
