Binance Sells Russia Operations After DOJ Investigation Over Sanction Violations

Binance Holdings Ltd BNB/USD is exiting Russia after facing a probe over possible violations of sanctions imposed against Russia.

What Happened: The crypto exchange announced the sale of its entire Russian operations to the newly formed exchange CommEX.

Noah Perlman, Binance’s Chief Compliance Officer, stated, "Operating in Russia is not compatible with Binance's compliance strategy."

This development is expected to be a major talking point at Benzinga's Future of Digital Assets conference on Nov. 14, where industry experts will discuss the evolving landscape of digital assets and the implications of such strategic business decisions.

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Perlman added that Binance remains optimistic about the long-term growth of the Web3 industry globally and will concentrate its efforts on the other 100+ countries where it has a presence.

For existing Russian users, Binance and CommEX will collaborate to guide users on migrating their assets to CommEX. Starting immediately, a segment of new Russian users undergoing KYC registration will be directed to CommEX, with this redirection set to increase over time.

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Over the upcoming months, Binance plans to gradually phase out all its exchange services and business lines in Russia, ensuring a smooth user experience throughout this period.

Why It Matters: The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) had been investigating Binance and whether Russians used the service to skirt U.S. sanctions and move money through the crypto exchange.

The agency was also looking at whether Binance was running afoul of sanctions related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, Binance was previously in discussions with authorities to resolve other accusations of the company being used to evade sanctions against Iran.

Binance insisted that it was fully compliant with all financial sanctions.

It's noteworthy that CommEX, which appears to be a newly launched crypto exchange as of Tuesday, had previously listed Bitcoin BTC/USD BTC/USDT and Ether ETH/USD ETH/USDT trading pairs for spot trading back in July.

CommEx appears to be registered in Seychelles and intends to serve the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) — a group of nine countries that includes Russia — and Asia.

While the financial specifics of the deal remain undisclosed, Binance has clarified that this sale marks its complete exit from Russia.

Unlike some international companies' deals in Russia, Binance will not retain any revenue share from the sale and has no provisions to repurchase shares in the business.

CommEX, in its statement, expressed enthusiasm about the acquisition, saying, "A hearty welcome to our new users from Russia and around the world!"

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