Binance P2P removes sanctioned Russian banks from payments list
Crypto exchange Binance has removed “yellow” and “green” payment options from its peer-to-peer (P2P) service after being criticized for using these code words to represent sanctioned Russian banks, Cointelegraph confirmed on Aug. 25.
Binance’s peer-to-peer exchange service is a message board allowing users to offer to buy or sell cryptocurrency. It also functions as a crypto escrow service. However, unlike Binance’s main exchange platform, it leaves fiat payments to be handled by users, and no fiat money passes through Binance’s servers.
On Aug. 22, The Wall Street Journal reported that Binance was listing sanctioned Russian banks such as Tinkoff and Rosbank as transfer methods. This led to criticism that Binance may be violating sanctions by endorsing these banks as payment methods.
On Aug. 24, multiple Russian news outlets began reporting that Binance had eliminated these banks from its list of payment methods. However, these banks had reappeared as code words “yellow” and “green,” with “yellow” representing sanctioned bank Tinkoff and “green” representing sanctioned bank Rosbank.
On Aug. 25, The Wall Street Journal reported that the sanctioned banks were removed from the list. The report quoted a Binance spokesperson indicating that the banks were removed after the exchange learned that account holders were using the service to circumvent sanctions. “We regularly update our systems to ensure compliance with local and global regulatory standards,” the spokesperson reportedly said. “When gaps are pointed out to us, we seek to address and remediate them as soon as possible.”
On the same day, Cointelegraph confirmed that the “yellow” and “green” payment methods were removed. Sixteen payment methods are still available for
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