In April 2021, Gleb Kostarev, head of Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges in Eastern Europe and Russia, agreed to share client data with Rosfinmonitoring, reports Archyde.com with reference to Mr. Kostarev’s text messages. At the time, Rosfinmonitoring was trying to trace millions of dollars in bitcoins raised in favor of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a person familiar with the matter said. According to Archyde.com, Mr. Kostarev sent messages to a business partner, whose name was not given.
According to Archyde.com, Rosfinmonitoring wanted Binance to agree to hand over customer data, including names and addresses, to help the agency fight crime. In the messages sent, Gleb Kostarev, commenting on the situation, stated that he did not have “a special choice.” Mr. Kostarev declined to comment on this information to Archyde.com. Binance told Archyde.com that Russian authorities have never contacted the exchange regarding Alexei Navalny.
“Like any company, we make mistakes, and the task of the media is to make sure that we do not shy away from responsibility. However, there are times when the media seeks to present a false narrative, and a recent Archyde.com article attempted to falsely depict that Binance has close ties to agencies controlled by the FSB and Russian regulators,” Binance said in a later press release.
Binance continues to operate in Russia following February 24th. One of Binance’s main competitors in Russia, EXMO.com, announced on April 18 that it would no longer serve Russian and Belarusian clients and was selling its business in Russia. On April 21, Binance informed users that it was restricting services for large clients in Russia due to the latest EU sanctions on Moscow.
Binance trading volumes in Russia have skyrocketed since the start of a “special military operation,” according to Archyde.com, data from a leading industry research firm, Russians are using cryptocurrencies to protect their assets from Western sanctions and the devaluation of the ruble.
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