Russia: Binance quits country over sanctions compliance concerns by selling its business to newly-launched co.
Binance quits Russia with sale of local business to CommEX, 27 September 2023
After months of deliberation over compliance with Western sanctions on Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, Binance has finally announced the sale of its Russia regional unit.
The exchange sold its Russia business for an undisclosed amount to CommEX, a crypto exchange that officially launched on September 26.
The announcement read that the two entities “will partner to inform users how to migrate their assets to CommEX.”
The blog post also read that a “portion of Russian KYC’d new user registration will immediately be redirected to CommEX.”
Binance’s Chief Compliance Officer Noah Perlman said in the press release that “operating in Russia is not compatible with Binance's compliance strategy.”
Decrypt has reached out to both Binance and CommEX for comment and will update this article should they respond.
Binance had been mulling whether to sell its Russian business since last month, having followed crypto exchanges ByBit and OKX in removing sanctioned Russian banks as payment options on the exchange.
The exchange noted in today's sale announcement that it plans to focus its energy on “the 100+ other countries in which we operate.”