Looks like another crypto platform is waving goodbye to Russia, as Deribit, a crypto derivatives exchange, is pulling out of the Russian market to comply with European Union sanctions.
No deposit, no order, no trading
Deribit announced that, starting February 17th, Russian accounts will be switched to reduce-only mode, which means users can close existing positions, but can’t open any new ones.
Then, on March 29th, the hammer drops, and all Russian accounts with open positions will be forcibly closed, but at least withdrawals will still be allowed. Why the sudden exit?
“Due to EU sanctions against Russia, Deribit is no longer able to accept Russian nationals and Russian residents as its clients, unless an exception applies. Since Deribit’s parent company is Dutch, these EU sanctions are relevant to us.”
All are equal, but some are more equal than others?
These EU sanctions, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prevent Europe-based crypto companies from serving Russian nationals or legal entities, but there are a few exceptions.
Russians who are also nationals of a European Economic Area member country or Switzerland, or who permanently reside in those areas, can still use the platform.
So, if you’re a Russian living in Ireland or Denmark, you’re good to go, but if you’re chilling in Dubai, you’re out of luck.
Obey
Deribit isn’t the first to do this, as Binance also bounced from Russia back in 2023.
The EU isn’t messing around, individuals who violate the sanctions could face a minimum of five years in the slammer, and companies could face fines of at least 5% of their worldwide turnover or $41.5 million, whichever is higher.
It seems Russia was a fairly popular location for Deribit users, because one survey indicated that 15% of Deribit’s website visitors were from Russia.
Other exchanges with heavy Russian traffic included Bybit (27%), Bitfinex (22%), HTX (14%), and MEXC (10%).
