WhiteBIT denied claims made by Russia’s Prosecutor Normal alleging that it facilitated unlawful fund transfers out of Russia to finance Ukraine’s armed forces.
The Ukrainian crypto change asserted it stopped working in Russian territory since wae broke out between the 2 international locations.
WhiteBIT Rejects Russia’s Allegations
In an official assertion, WhiteBIT pushed again towards Russia’s ban, stating that it had utterly ceased operations within the nation shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
“Following the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, WhiteBIT took a principled stance: it blocked all customers from Russia and Belarus, and discontinued buying and selling pairs with the Russian ruble,” it learn.
The centralized change additionally famous that this choice price the corporate roughly 30% of its person base on the time.
These clarifications come days after Russia’s Prosecutor Normal introduced a ban on WhiteBIT, labeling it an “undesirable group.”
Russia’s Prosecutor Normal has designated Ukrainian crypto change WhiteBit as an “undesirable group,” alleging it was used to illegally transfer funds out of Russia and to finance Ukraine’s armed forces. The designation additionally covers WhiteBit’s guardian firm W Group and its…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) January 25, 2026
The transfer adopted Russia’s allegations that the change facilitated unlawful fund transfers overseas and helped finance Ukraine’s armed forces.
Alleged Transfers Described As Donations
Russian authorities accused WhiteBIT’s administration of transferring roughly $11 million to Ukraine since 2022. In response, WhiteBIT clarified that the funds didn’t originate from inside Russia.
“Over the 4 years of full-scale warfare, WhiteBIT has donated round 11 million USD of its personal funds to help Ukraine’s protection forces and humanitarian initiatives for civilians,” it stated.
Amongst different allegations, Russian officers claimed that WhiteBIT supplied technical help to UNITED24, Ukraine’s state-backed crypto donation platform.
WhiteBIT confirmed that it had labored with United24 by enabling Whitepay, a crypto-processing service used to facilitate cryptocurrency donations for the platform and different humanitarian foundations in Ukraine.
“In whole, WhiteBIT and Whitepay have facilitated greater than 160 million USD in crypto donations, supporting each humanitarian and defense-related fundraising.”
The change concluded by stating that, regardless of the preliminary lack of customers after exiting the Russian market, its enterprise has grown greater than eightfold.
Ukraine Accelerates Crypto Use Throughout Conflict
Though Ukraine has lengthy been an early adopter of cryptocurrencies, adoption accelerated considerably following Russia’s invasion.
People more and more turned to cryptocurrencies for fundraising and donations, as they provided sooner and extra environment friendly methods to ship funds the place they have been wanted. This shift started even earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In accordance with an Elliptic report, Ukrainian NGOs and volunteer teams created crypto wallets to obtain donations, elevating simply over $570,000 in 2021 alone.
By February 2022, the Ukrainian parliament handed laws formally legalizing cryptocurrencies.
One yr into Russia’s warfare on Ukraine, these figures had elevated by roughly 122-fold. A 2023 Chainalysis report confirmed that donations to addresses supplied by the Ukrainian authorities had grown to just about $70 million.
Cryptocurrency use stays widespread amongst Ukrainians. Whereas fundamental laws has legalized digital property, authorities proceed working towards complete regulation and a proper tax framework.
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