Starting March 9th, Bittrex will block residents of North Korea, Iran, Crimea, Syria, and Cuba

According to the new terms of service announced by Bittrex, a Las Vegas-based cryptocurrency exchange, they will formally block the transaction services in North Korea, Iran, the Crimea, Syria, and Cuba from March 9, not related to Russia.

According to the previous notice released by Bittrex, the new terms of service mentioned:

“You may not use the Services if you are located in, or a citizen or resident of any state, country, territory or other jurisdiction that is embargoed by the United States or where your use of the Services would be illegal or otherwise violate any applicable law.”

This clause also raised fears in Russia’s cryptocurrency traders that since 2014, they have been denied access to Bittrex due to the relevant sanctions policy. However, according to the terms of service recently disclosed by the Bittrex Exchange, residents of the “North Korea, Iran, Crimean, Syrian and Cuban” countries blocked by the United States are specifically excluded. In addition, anyone who receives “economic sanctions by the U.S. government” will also be barred from accessing the trading platform.

The United States began cracking down on cryptocurrency trading in other countries?

The new list of sanctioned countries in the Bittrex Update Terms of Service is, in fact, a “formal crackdown.” Last year, Bittrex closed the service accounts of Iranian residents without any notice, leaving many Iranian users unable to repatriate funds from their accounts.

Yasser Ahmadi, an Iranian user of the Bittrex exchange, believes the United States is exercising greater oversight of the cryptocurrency industry. He said:

“They’re using the fluidity of bitcoin to control the needs of people around the world and reach their own political interests. That is not what bitcoin and blockchain is about, it’s against the spirit of this system.”

Source: Bitcoin, bittrex