Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Flexpool, the world’s fifth-largest Ethereum mining pool, became the first of its kind to cut off services to Russian users. The decision was made to show support for Ukraine.
On Thursday, a Flexpool spokesperson said on its official Telegram channel,
“We generally do not get involved in politics despite our personal views as a company. However, 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.”
Russian miners welcomed after the crisis is settled
The pool is terminating all services to IP addresses in Russia and paying outstanding balances to impacted customers because it does not want to profit from the situation or indirectly fund it, according to the message. The statement also made an apology to all the miners working in Russia. They stated that once the crisis is settled, the Russian miners will be welcomed back.
Many citizens of Russia opposed the war, and they are rarely represented in the authoritarian state. Flexpool’s actions may be affecting people who have nothing to do with the current situation in Ukraine.
Also, prohibiting people from mining decentralized cryptocurrencies through a mining pool does not appear to follow the fundamentals of decentralization. As Vitalik stated, ETH is neutral, but he is not; this is how any decentralized technology should operate.
According to information portal miningpoolstats.com, Flexpool is the world’s fifth-largest ether mining pool. In the time of security crisis, it is likely to be the first to restrict access in Russia.
Hiveon, the second-largest pool, posted a statement of support for Ukraine on their account,
” (It’s) impossible to stay away from the violence in Ukraine,”
But the firm has not taken any action as of yet.
With the Russia-Ukraine situation deteriorating by the hour, crypto markets, on the other hand, witnessed a spike in prices. It could be speculated that with the ongoing uncertainty and fear, people are starting to pour their money into crypto. With Russia being sanctioned and many of its financial institutions cut off from the west, crypto could be the asset that brings some hope to the regular people.