Binance shared client data with Russian agency, new report says

Binance's compliance posture draws fresh scrutiny after a Reuters report detailed the exchange's role in helping Russian authorities build a criminal case against an IT specialist who donated roughly $700 to Ukraine.

The case is the latest knot in years of Binance's fraught relationship with Russian authorities. In 2021, Gleb Kostarev, who headed the exchange's Eastern Europe and Russian operations at the time, said he did not have "much of a choice" when he met with Rosfinmonitoring officials, according to Reuters. Rosfinmonitoring is the Russian agency that tracks financial transactions. It was looking into Bitcoin donations raised by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was in jail at the time.

As part of the arrangement back then, Binance agreed to share client information and help Russian authorities process requests for names and addresses through a local unit. Binance has since rejected any "materially inaccurate" reports linking Navalny's crypto fundraising to his prosecution.

Fast forward to 2026. The exchange has stopped operating in Russia and has even cut off exchanges implicated as routes for Moscow's sanctions evasion. Binance announced on August 14 that it would stop processing transactions with 16 crypto platforms. Multiple names on the list had already appeared on the European Union's 21st sanctions package, adopted July 23. Dubai-based Shelbit and Aban Tether were cut off on August 7. A7 Nigeria, A7 Africa, and PilotFinance were dropped on August 13. HTX, EXMO, Rapira, and BitPapa will be cut off by August 23.

Binance did not specifically name Russia in its notice. Instead, it pointed to "recent regulatory developments" as rationale for its action.