Russia has officially banned Ukrainian-founded cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBIT, escalating efforts to crack down on firms it says support Ukraine’s war effort.
The country’s attorney general designated WhiteBIT and its parent company, W Group, as “undesirable organizations,” a legal label that criminalizes any activity involving the firm in Russia.
Russian authorities accused the exchange of building “grey schemes” to channel funds out of the country and support the Ukrainian military through financial and technical infrastructure since the start of the war in February 2022.
WhiteBIT, founded in 2018 by Ukrainian entrepreneur Volodymyr Nosov, said in a note shared with CoinDesk that the decision reinforces its commitment to support Ukraine.
The company said it was exiting the Russian market in early 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion began. It blocked all Russian and Belarusian users and removed ruble trading pairs, a move it says cost it about 30% of its user base at the time.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, a year into the war, began sending official letters to major cryptocurrency exchanges including Coinbase, Binance, Bybit and WhiteEBIT to block Russian users.
At the time, some exchanges, including Coinbase and Kraken, responded, saying they would not enforce a blanket ban on Russian-linked addresses without being legally required to do so, but would instead block accounts or transactions involving sanctioned entities.
Despite the setback, WhiteBIT said it has grown eightfold since then, now serving over 8 million users and expanding into the US market.
According to Russian prosecutors, WhiteBIT directed at least $11 million to Ukraine’s military, including nearly $1 million for drone procurement. The company confirmed the figures, saying its payment processing arm, Whitepay, has facilitated over $160 million in donations for defense and humanitarian efforts.
“During the four years of full-scale war, WhiteBIT has donated approximately $11 million of its own funds to support Ukraine’s defense forces and humanitarian initiatives for civilians. These actions reflect the company’s values and civilian position as a company with roots in Ukraine operating in wartime,” the company said.
Russia’s designation means that any Russian citizen who interacts with WhiteBIT can now face criminal charges.
