The US government was looking into potential sanctions violations, cryptocurrency company Binance said on Wednesday that it was selling its Russia operations.
Binance pulls out Russia: According to Bloomberg, the US Department of Justice is examining into allegations that Russians used Binance to avoid US sanctions during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according to that publication’s May article.
The company, which has encountered significant regulatory challenges around the world, has previously denied violating sanctions; but, a statement released on Wednesday stated that it was “fully exiting” the Russian market.
In a statement, chief compliance officer Noah Perlman said, “As we look towards the future, we recognise that operating in Russia is not compatible with Binance’s compliance strategy.”
The company claimed that the procedure, which involved selling its assets to CommEX, a business that just went public on Tuesday, would take a year to complete.
Binance operates cryptocurrency exchanges and offers other services all over the world, but with the collapse of the cryptocurrency markets and the ensuing regulatory scrutiny of its operations, its business has suffered significantly.
After Reuters reports claimed it had assisted in the movement of enormous sums of money in contravention of US sanctions, the company acknowledged in November of last year that its exchange had “interacted” with “bad actors” in Iran.
Changpeng Zhao, a Canadian, launched Binance in China in 2017. However, after a crackdown, he relocated the company’s activities to Singapore, Bahrain, Dubai, Paris, and the Cayman Islands.