Binance Considering a Full Exit from the Russian Market: Report
- Binance is considering various options, “including a full exit” from Russia, a spokesperson said.
- The exchange recently suspended P2P trades in all currencies other than the ruble for users in Russia.
- The decision came at a time when US agencies believe that Russians are evading sanctions via crypto platforms.
- The exchange also removed Russian banks Tinkoff and Rosbank as transfer methods on its P2P platform.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, might be considering abandoning its customers in Russia due to the sanctions imposed by several countries, including the United States. Recently, the firm had increased restrictions on the users in Russia, preventing them from engaging in peer-to-peer (P2P) trades other than the ruble.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal on August 28, a spokesperson representing the Binance crypto exchange has revealed that the crypto firm is considering various options “including a full exit” from Russia considering the sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States.
Additionally, this report from the WSJ follows a recent announcement from Binance, wherein the digital asset trading platform revealed that Russian users of the platform have been denied trading in currencies other than the ruble on its P2P platform amid fears that people in the country have been using crypto exchanges to evade the sanctions.
As reported earlier by BitcoinWisdom, Binance had listed sanctioned Russian banks Tinkoff and Rosbank as transfer methods on its P2P platform. However, the firm removed these banks from its P2P trading list due to the same reason it imposed restrictions on fiat currency trades for investors in Russia.
A spokesperson added that Binance updates its systems to “ensure compliance with local and global regulatory standards. When gaps are pointed out to us, we seek to address and remediate them as soon as possible.”
Following the leading exchange’s footsteps, OKX and Bybit also announced that Tinkoff Bank and Sberbank were no longer available on the list of P2P transactions. It is also important to note that last year, in October, Roham Gharegozlou’s renowned blockchain-based gaming firm, Dapper Labs, decided that it would suspend all its services for accounts with connections to Russia.
In response to the sanctions imposed by the US and EU, Russia has partnered with Iran to work on a stablecoin that will be backed by gold. The “token of the Persian Gulf region” will be used as payment in global trade.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
