Realtor uses fees paid by Russians and gives to Ukraine

Jesse PowellCEO of Kraken, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced that it will not block Russian users from using the exchange’s services, but the fee they pay, up to $10 million, will be used for donations to Ukrainians. customers.

In a wave of support for Ukraine, several companies and companies are ceasing to provide services in Russia. Cryptocurrency exchanges are charged to do the same and dissuade Russian users from transacting.

However, exchanges don’t seem interested in this option as Binance and Coinbase are still active in the country.

These exchanges, as well as Powell’s, are still active in the country, while companies like Apple, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, McDonald’s and many others have ceased operations in Russia.

Instead, Kraken wants to donate $10 million to customers in Ukraine through a new plan. This is the first time the brokerage has run such a major support campaign.

The assistance program will provide $1,000 worth of Bitcoin from March 10 to all Ukrainian customers who create an account before March 9 and have an intermediate or professional account.

Bitcoin is free to withdraw money or convert it into another asset and the exchange will subsidize all costs associated with the transactions. The rest of the money, up to $10 million in total donations, will be distributed in other unannounced distributions over the next few years.

Donations will be funded in part by Russian user fees.

Kraken has the necessary funds to pay for this aid to Ukrainians, as it was recently valued at $20 billion and is rumored to be going public soon this year.

However, at least part of this campaign will be funded by the trading volume of Kraken’s customers in Russia.

“As part of the campaign, Kraken will also donate an amount equal to the total fees paid by Russian customers in the first half of 2022 to support the aid package.” said the broker.

Some weren’t too keen on the idea, some felt that linking the campaign to how much Russians will pay in brokerage fees could slow down the distribution of that money and affect the utility.

Powell also spoke out against freezing the accounts of residents of countries in conflict, recalling that if they did, the United States would be one of the first to have their accounts blocked.

“If we were to voluntarily freeze the financial accounts of residents of countries that unfairly attack others or cause violence around the world, our first step would be to freeze the accounts of all US residents. In practical terms, that is not feasible.” said Powell.

Powell’s decision is interesting, and it releases a trait many believe to be hypocritical among companies that block Russians from their platforms, but not for residents of Israel or, as Powell said, the United States.

It also helps Russian residents, especially those who don’t support Putin, to continue trading and even protect their money from the looming rampant inflation that will affect the country’s economy.