The Russian government has banned its citizens from interacting with the crypto exchange WhiteBIT due to the company’s contributions to the Ukrainian military.
WhiteBIT, which was founded by Ukrainians and is headquartered in Lithuania, has donated $11 million to Ukraine’s armed forces since the Russian invasion began in 2022.
The exchange has also facilitated more than $160 million in donations for Ukrainian defense and humanitarian aid purposes via its payments solution Whitepay, according to Alyona Gorbatko, a public relations and communications specialist at the company.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation designated the exchange as “undesirable,” prohibiting Russian citizens from doing business with it.
“WhiteBIT is collaborating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Since May 2022, the exchange has been providing technical support to the United24 fundraising platform, created at the initiative of the President of Ukraine to collect cryptocurrency donations.”
Gorbatko, however, touted the new designation as a badge of honor, noting that WhiteBIT has had “no Russian users or business since 2022.”
“In a stunning display of accuracy, Russia has for once said something true: WhiteBIT is ‘undesirable’ — for helping Ukraine.”
WhiteBIT is currently the 37th-ranked crypto exchange by trading volume over the past seven days, according to data from CoinGecko. The company expanded to the United States in December.
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