The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, may withdraw its services from Russia amid penalties from countries including the United States.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal on 28 August, a Binance spokesperson said, “All options are on the table, including a full exit.”
As international tension increases, the crypto giant is distancing itself from any associations making illegal transactions for Russians.
The news came after a major revelation that, Binance is no longer allowing customers to pay each other through authorized banks.
As per the report of August 22, Binance stated that Russian clients could access payment through authorized banks, including Russia’s biggest banks, Sberbank and Tinkoff.
Just after this report, on August 25, Binance’s peer-to-peer (P2P) service will no longer be available to the five blacklisted Russian financial institutions for sending and receiving rubles.
In recent months, Binance’s relationship with Russia has been unstable. After Russia’s actions happened in Ukraine, Binance reduced its transactions in Russia.
Since then, Binance has moved its limit for trading in Russia, stating that Binance users can’t exchange digital tokens for currency other than rubles.
At present, in Russia, Binance isn’t the only exchange operating, other cryptocurrency trading platforms like OKX, ByBit, Gate.io, and KuCoin are also operating.
In the United States, Binance US and CEO Changpeng Zhao faced a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for offering unregistered securities.
Also Read: Binance Denies WSJ’s Russia Sanction Violation Claims
