Huobi, KuCoin Under Scrutiny For Doing Business With Russian Banks: Report

Two major crypto exchanges still allow customers of sanctioned Russian banks to transact on their platforms, according to a report from digital asset data analytics firm Inca Digital.

The report found that Huobi and KuCoin enable people to trade crypto using debit cards issued by sanctioned Russian banks such as Sberbank.

Inca Digital CEO Adam Zarazinski told Bloomberg that "this could be a violation of US and European sanctions," adding that the transactions often involve Tether USDT/USD, a stablecoin that has faced its own scrutiny from regulators.

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Zarazinski also noted that "Tether is frequently used by Russians to move money out of the country" and "it is absolutely used by these two exchanges, in particular, to provide crypto banking services to sanctioned Russian banks."

When contacted for comment, Huobi advisor Justin Sun did not respond, and representatives of KuCoin and Tether also failed to respond to separate requests for comment.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, was also prominently mentioned in the report.

The exchange reportedly offers "multiple methods for Russians to convert local currency into crypto," including through an over-the-counter trading desk and a peer-to-peer marketplace, and according to the report, each of these options is open to Russians without KYC checks for up to $10,000.

Binance, which has faced investigations worldwide, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zarazinski revealed that the company plans to release the report publicly soon, and highlighted other troubling observations about the 62 crypto exchanges it analyzed, including the failure of some exchanges to require Russians to pass KYC checks.

He emphasized the importance of "fending off bad actors and growing the industry responsibly."

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