Binance has locked the doors of its Russia-based arm.
Binance, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has decided to completely pull out of the Russian crypto market.
On September 27th, the company announced that it would transfer all of its Russian operations to CommEX, a newly established cryptocurrency exchange.
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Although the specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Binance stressed that the move is aligned with its compliance strategy, which found operating in Russia incompatible.
When commenting on the transition, Binance's Chief Compliance Officer, Noah Perlman, stated:
We remain confident in the long-term growth of the Web3 industry around the world and will focus our energy on the 100+ other countries in which we operate.
As part of the transition, Binance is implementing a detailed process to facilitate the migration of its Russian user base to CommEX.
Some users who have completed Know Your Customer (KYC) checks will be immediately redirected to the CommEX platform. The rest of Binance's functionalities in Russia will be phased out over the next year. Binance assured its Russian users that their assets are "safe and securely protected" during this transition.
Every effort will be made to maintain a smooth user experience during this transition.
In a separate announcement on social media, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao highlighted that CommEx users will continue to benefit from Binance's native token, BNB. He stated that BNB holders will still receive a 25% trading discount on the CommEX platform.
The announcement clarified that, unlike some international firms that retain some ongoing relationship with Russia after exiting, Binance will sever all ties.
Binance will have no ongoing revenue split from the sale, nor does it maintain any option to buy back shares in the business.
According to data from SimilarWeb, Russia was one of Binance's most significant markets, with user visits to Binance.com from Russia accounting for 6.9% of total traffic.
The sale of Binance's Russian operations to CommEX signals the cryptocurrency giant's strategic realignment with global compliance requirements. As Binance shifts its focus to other international markets, CommEX is expected to fill the vacuum in the Russian cryptocurrency trading landscape.
