Ethereum Mining Pool Cuts Off Russian Users Over Ukraine Invasion

Ethereum ETH/USD mining pool Flexpool cut its services to Russian users after the nation invaded Ukraine.

What Happened: Flexpool — the world's fifth-largest Ethereum mining pool "became possibly the first of its ilk to cut services to Russia" because of the Ukraine invasion, according to a Friday CoinDesk report. 

See Also: WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY MINING?

A Flexpool spokesperson said the firm usually does not get involved in politics despite the company's personal view. Still, the representative wrote that this time is different since "this is greater than politics, greater than anyone. This is a war that may end the world. It certainly is ending the lives of many innocent people in Eastern Europe."

Flexpool purportedly wants to avoid profiting off of the crisis or indirectly funding it, which is why it decided to blacklist all Russian internet protocol addresses and immediately pay out their outstanding balances to affected users. The second-largest Ethereum mining pool, Hiveon, also acknowledged the crisis and wrote that it is "impossible to stay away from the violence in Ukraine," but refrained from taking any action.

Photo: Miloslav Hamřík courtesy Pixabay