Animoca Brands, a blockchain gaming company has announced that it is cutting ties to Russian players following the Ukraine invasion seven days ago. Yat Siu (co-founder of Animoca Brands) stated that the company had received legal advice and that an Animoca executive compared Russia with North Korea.
Animoca Brands Restricts Russian Users From Leveraging Firm’s Blockchain Gaming Products
According to Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based crypto gaming company, Russian players are being restricted. Animoca Brands’ overarching ban follows a number of crypto firms like Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase saying the businesses will not blanket ban all Russian users.
Yat Siu is the co-founder and CEO of Animoca Brands. He spoke to Bloomberg during an interview, explaining that they received legal advice regarding sanctions in the new country. Co-founder Yat Siu noted that restrictions might affect certain subsidiaries, including those of blockchain company Lympo and Gamee. However, Yat Siu detailed that the company’s Russian user base was a low amount of users.
The Animoca Brands co-founder did not discuss the effect the restrictions on Russian users might have on the company’s most popular game The Sandbox. The company’s website, Twitter account, and subsidiaries have not issued any official statements about the Russian user restrictions. Speaking with Bloomberg, Yat Siu said that the company does not want to be “financially excluded” over associations with Russia.
“The legal advice we’ve been receiving is we now have to impose some restrictions,” Yat Siu explained to Bloomberg’s Olga Kharif. “It’s a sanctioned country on par with North Korea. The moment we end up doing business in those areas, we might ourselves become financially excluded from the financial system.”
While a number of crypto exchanges have stated that they would not ban all Russian users, there have been a few that have decided to add restrictions like Animoca Brands’ latest move. Kuna, a Russian-language exchange, delisted Russian trading pairs and Flexpool, the fifth largest ethereum mining company, prohibited Russian miners from joining the pool. Dmarket, a Ukrainian startup founded in Ukraine, has now also been delisted. cut “all relationships with Russia and Belarus.”
You can support Ukrainian families, children, refugees, and displaced people by donating BTC, ETH, and BNB to Binance Charity’s Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund.
Do you agree with Animoca Brands’ decision to ban Russian consumers from using its products? Comment below and let us know how you feel about the subject.
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