Binance considers exit from Russia following sanction violations

The world’s largest crypto exchange is reportedly reevaluating its business in Russia.

One of the options on the table is a full withdrawal from the Russian market.

Potential for a full exit

According to the Wall Street Journal, a spokesperson from Binance shared that all options are on the table, which includes the possibility of the platform to make a full exit from the Russian market. Although Binance has acknowledged their previous failures in compliance, they have also claimed that they changed their ways and are serious about following the rules.

Binance has since moved to limit its Russia trading service, telling platform users that they can’t exchange digital tokens for currency other than rubles. 

At present, Binance isn’t the only exchange operating in the country; other cryptocurrency trading platforms include OKX, ByBit, Gate.io, and KuCoin, among others.

The sanction violation

This news comes after a major unveiling that, despite the crypto exchange claiming that it no longer allowed customers to pay each other through sanctioned Russian banks, it was. Accusations were first made on Aug. 22, in which examination of the service website proved that Russian clients could access payment processing through sanctioned lenders, including Russia’s biggest banks, Sberbank and Tinkoff.

It was just three days later, on Aug. 25, that the exchange’s P2P service no longer recommended the five blacklisted Russian financial institutions as a way to send and receive rubles. 

Given that the exchange is still dealing with legal and regulatory issues in the United States and many other parts of the globe, including the SEC’s filing against the exchange and CEO Changpeng Zhao for deceptive practices, an exit might be a reasonable step.