Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has denied that it shared user data including names and addresses with Russian intelligence agencies, after uncovering disturbing information on the company's data-sharing with Moscow.
Reuters claims that the Russian government is looking for thousands of Bitcoin donations collected by Russian political dissident Alexei Navalny, who had been jailed in the head of the Kremlin for organizing anti-government demonstrations.
Although Binance's chief Changpeng Zhao told Russian citizens that Binance aims to "protect users" and "freedom of money," Gleb Kostarev, a Binance senior official overseeing Russia, said he didn't make "much of a choice" in handing over the data to Russian authorities. According to Reuters,
Binance told Reuters that the Russian government never reached out to the company for information on Navalny. However, Binance regrets that any data exchange was made on Navalny.
Despite a vociferous stance on crypto firms allowing Russia to profit from cryptocurrency during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Binance remains one of the few crypto exchanges that still operates in the country, albeit in a limited capacity. Last week, Binance said it was restricting Russian users to remain in accordance with European restrictions.
Binance has been very vocal about neo-favoritely putting people's accounts to a minimum.
Despite this, Reuters claims that transactions on Binance in Russia have effectively increased during the Ukraine conflict, as citizens increasingly rely on crypto to protect themselves from Western sanctions. According to Kostarev, Binance was not "making a fuss" to ensure that the exchange would continue without interruption in the country.
Binance clarified during the ongoing war in Ukraine that "active involvement with Russia has now been suspended due to the conflict."
