Binance Discontinues Peer-to-Peer Service with Sanctioned Russian Banks – Here's the Latest
Binance has ended its relationship with five Russian banks under sanctions on the exchange's peer-to-peer service for ruble fund transfers.
Binance received criticism from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on August 22 for offering sanctioned Russian banks like Tinkoff and Rosbank as transfer options.
This raised concerns about potential sanctions violations, as Binance seemed to endorse these banks as payment methods.
The report highlighted Binance's operational connections in Russia, potentially violating sanctions after the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The US Justice Department was investigating Binance for possible sanctions breaches, alleging unauthorized access for Russian citizens.
The report also noted external data suggesting significant ruble trade volumes on Binance.
The WSJ emphasized Binance's involvement in peer-to-peer ruble-to-digital asset transactions, especially with banks under Western sanctions, referring to user screenshots and chat messages.
However, Binance disagreed, saying it had no affiliation with any Russian bank, as stated by a spokesperson.
"Binance follows the global sanctions rules and enforces sanctions on people, organizations, entities, and countries that have been blacklisted by the international community, denying such actors access to the Binance platform," the company said.
Several local news sources reported on August 23 that Binance had removed these banks from its payment methods.
However, they had resurfaced using coded terms - "yellow" stood for the sanctioned bank Tinkoff, while "green" symbolized the sanctioned bank Rosbank.
The Wall Street Journal's report on August 25 stated that the sanctioned banks had been taken off the list.
According to a Binance spokesperson in the report, the removal
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