Today in Crypto: FTX Head ‘Frustrated’ With Industry Sanctions Messaging; Hubspot Data Breach Prompts Crypto Firm Warnings

Communications from the crypto industry around Russian sanctions have been “counterproductive,” according to FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried, Reuters wrote Friday (March 18).

FTX and other crypto exchanges have rejected calls to stop doing business in Russia over the war.

“I’m very frustrated with the messaging that our industry has had on this,” Fried, the founder of FTX, which was recently valued at $32 billion, told Reuters on Thursday. “I think it has not been helpful. I think it has been basically anti-regulatory, is how it’s been perceived, and I think that’s how it sounds, and I think that has caused a pretty big perception issue.”

In other news, Octagon, a Dubai-based tech venture, announced Friday that it is working to eliminate the hassle associated with managing large amounts of digital coins.

According to the release, the company will be looking at unlocking the potential in the digital economy, working in eCommerce, eSports, gaming and more. The company also has its own token, which contains characteristics of “all the top crypto tokens.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has convicted an alleged perpetrator of a crypto-related fraud scheme, the DoJ said in a press release Thursday.

The suspect, Asa Saint Clair, reportedly came up with a scheme where he got over 60 victims to provide loans to his World Sports Alliance over his IGObit digital coin offering, saying this was an affiliate of the United Nations and they’d get returns on their investments.

Furthermore, Michael Chobanian, the founder of Ukrainian crypto exchange Kuna, has alleged that crypto exchange Binance is working with the Russian government in spite of global sanctions and other regulations, CoinDesk reported Friday.

“The problem with Binance is not just that they still continue working on both sides, it’s that they showed cooperation with the Russian government before the war, and as far as I know, they still continue cooperating with the Russian government,” Chobanian told CoinDesk.

However, the report noted that Chobanian did not offer any proof to back up this claim. A Binance spokesperson told CoinDesk, “We prefer not to comment on false accusations. Our focus is on helping people.”

In other news, blockchain effort Near, which has a Ukrainian founder, is looking at expanding its presence in Portugal, which can help some Ukrainian refugees keep their jobs, Bloomberg wrote Sunday (March 20).

Crypto workers from Ukraine may find it easier to start over in Portugal, the report said. Ukraine is a hub of sorts for the industry, but Portugal has been fast becoming a hub itself and has zero percent taxes on digital currency gains.

Finally, numerous crypto firms, including BlockFi, Swan Bitcoin and Pantera Capital, told customers over the weekend that there had been a data breach at marketing software maker Hubspot, The Block Crypto reported Sunday.

The firms told clients their information, including names and contact information, may have been collected.

Hubspot issued a statement regarding the breach on Friday, saying that “a bad actor compromised a HubSpot employee account and used it to access data within fewer than 30 HubSpot accounts. At this time, we believe this to be a targeted incident focused on customers in the cryptocurrency industry.”