Binance exit in Russia causes 20% traffic surge on top exchanges

Russian traffic increased up to 20% on several tier-1 crypto exchanges in November, as Binance recorded significantly slower trading volume growth than its major competitors. 

According to the latest CEX data from WuBlockchain, most of November’s traffic inflow on top crypto exchanges such as Huobi, Deribit, Bitget, and Bybit came from Russian users. These exchange benefits significantly from Binance’s exit from the Russian market. Nearly 20% of Bybit’s traffic last month came from Russian users – most from a single geographical location. This was also reflected in the exchange’s spot trading volume, as Bybit saw a 62.5% increase in November. 

Bitget also saw 10% of its traffic generated from Russia, which became its leading traffic source in Europe, and the platform also recorded a nearly 60% increase in its trading volume. Binance’s exit seemingly didn’t impact Russia’s crypto activities, as cryptocurrency transactions increased by 53.9% in the country this year. According to the Bank of Russia, nearly 90 million Russian users visited crypto trading platforms in the second and third quarters of 2023. 

Binance impacted despite bull market

Although every crypto exchange saw a substantial spike in trading volume due to the current bull market, Binance’s growth was notably lower than that of Coinbase, KuCoin, and OKX. 

KuCoin and OKX experienced massive 109% and 93% increases in their spot trading volume, whereas Binance only saw a 54% increase. This shows that withdrawing from Russia and the recent criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice has significantly impacted the leading exchange’s growth.