The regional chief of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, met with Russia’s financial intelligence agency in Moscow in April 2021.
According to text texts exchanged by a company official to a business colleague, the Russians wanted them to agree to send over client data, including names and addresses, to assist them in fighting crime.
According to the conversations, their chief of Eastern Europe and Russia, Gleb Kostarev, agreed to Rosfin’s request to disclose client data. He explained to his colleague that he did not have “any kind of a choice” in the situation.
Russian officials have never approached Binance about Navalny, according to Reuters.
Binance Challenges The Authenticity Of The Report
It claimed it was “actively seeking compliance in Russia” before the war, which would have meant responding to “appropriate inquiries from regulators and law enforcement organizations.”
According to Reuters, the encounter was part of the company’s behind-the-scenes attempts to strengthen connections with Russian government authorities as it attempted to expand its rapidly growing company in the nation. This narrative is based on interviews with more than ten persons acquainted with Binance’s Russian activities, including former workers, ex-business partners, and crypto industry insiders, as well as an examination of text messages sent by Kostarev to others outside the firm.
Despite calls from the Ukrainian government for Binance and other platforms to block Russian users, Binance has continued to function in Russia since Putin sent his forces into Ukraine on February 24. Since the Kremlin initiated what it terms a “special operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine, several major payment and fintech businesses, such as PayPal and American Express, have ceased services in Russia. EXMO.com, one of Binance’s key competitors in Russia, said on Monday that it would cease to service Russian and Belarusian clients and would sell its Russian operations. There are still a few smaller crypto exchanges around.
