Already on February 25, it became known that one of the five largest pools (FlexPool) announced a complete blocking of Ether mining farms from Russia and Belarus. Then it seemed like complete nonsense, since it is enough to use a VPN to bypass it. Such actions were supported by Vitalik Buterin, who even transferred money to help Ukraine.

While the major crypto exchanges are arguing about the importance of decentralization and assuring the entire Western world that the key principles of the cryptocurrency community cannot be violated, pools are clearly controlled by US authorities.

As it became known, already yesterday, the largest Ethereum mining pool, Ethermine, limited the connection options for miners from the Russian Federation and Belarus. The reason given is an attempt to stop money laundering by Russian oligarchs. It is not entirely clear here, either all the inhabitants of the Russian Federation are considered oligarchs there, or the management of the pool is trying to find an excuse for their actions.

Isn't it interesting? All this stories about decentralization, independence and freedom. Turned out to be blatant lies.