Binance has restricted sanctioned Russian banks from accessing its peer-to-peer trading platform. The banks numbering five, have been delisted in a bid to comply with local and global regulatory standards and sanctions rules.
Binance’s action comes after news broke out earlier this week that the exchange’s P2P platform has not implemented international sanctions against the said banks.
Already, many top crypto exchanges have cut ties with the five Russian banks, disabling Ruble-based services. This has impacted Russian traders significantly as they recently relied on P2P trading since sanctions on money transfer have been placed on the country.
Since the World Street Journal however, Binance has swiftly acted to bar the bank users from accessing its services.
“When gaps are pointed out to us, we seek to address and remediate them as soon as possible. In line with our ongoing commitments, payment methods on the Binance P2P platform that do not fit with our compliance policies are not available on our platform,” a Binance spokesperson told CoinDesk.
It seems though that Binance had knowingly violated the sanctions by supporting the banks and identifying them by colors rather than by their names. For example, bank cards issued by Sber and Tinkoff were listed as ‘green’ and ‘yellow’ payment options on the P2P platform.
Binance has a long history with its Russian users. Earlier this year, the exchange placed a limit on trading accounts, making it impossible for Russian users with account balances of over $10,000 to initiate trades.
The exchange however later quietly lifted the restrictions, which led to the ongoing investigation for violating the restrictions placed on Russians.
Binance’s Legal Battles
Binance has faced several legal battles this year, and is still facing more. In addition to the allegations of facilitating sanctions violations, the exchange is also facing trial in the U.S. for allegedly violating security laws.
The SEC has accused the exchange of not just violating the laws by allowing the trading of “unregistered securities” on its platform, but also for mishandling customer funds. The allegations came as the SEC launched an industry-wide crackdown on crypto assets earlier this year.
Bybit Bars Russian Banks
It isn’t only Binance that has responded to the sanctions by barring Russian banks. Bybit, one of the top global crypto exchanges in the world has taken a similar step to bar cards from the five sanctioned banks to comply with the international sanctions placed on Russians.
With the sanctions, Russians will be left with limited options when it comes to financial transactions. It is in the light of the sanctions also, that the country is currently pursuing the launch of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) to facilitate digital payments.
