Binance P2P Announces the Removal of 5 Russian Lenders
- Binance P2P has delisted five Russian lenders that have been sanctioned by the United States’ authorities.
- A spokesperson told the WSJ that the firm “regularly update[s] our systems to ensure compliance.”
- The exchange used the codes “yellow” and “green” for sanctioned Russian banks Tinkoff and Rosbank, respectively.
- The codes were removed after reports said that the firm had not really delisted the sanctioned banks.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has announced the removal of five sanctioned Russian banks from its peer-to-peer (P2P) platform, and as a result, users will not be able to pay one another through these financial entities. This might be a result of the regulatory actions taken by the United States government against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
As per a report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the crypto exchange’s P2P list no longer includes five sanctioned Russian lenders on its site, which would allow users to transfer rubles to each other. A spokesperson from Binance told the WSJ that the firm “regularly update[s] our systems to ensure compliance.”
On the other hand, another spokesperson from the exchange told TheBlock that the firm “aims to diligently comply with 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.”
Interestingly, Binance was earlier criticized for using “yellow” and “green” payment options in its peer-to-peer service. The banks were removed after the criticism, and the WSJ confirmed on August 22 that the exchange was listing Russian banks like Tinkoff and Rosbank as transfer methods.
The Binance P2P acts as a message board, allowing users to transfer money to each other directly without the exchange acting as a gateway, which means that no money touches the servers of the exchange. However, the P2P platform does act as an escrow for cryptocurrencies.
On August 24, multiple Russian news outlets confirmed that sanctioned banks were removed from the exchange’s P2P platform. These banks reappeared under the codes “yellow” and “green,” with “yellow” representing sanctioned bank Tinkoff and “green” representing sanctioned bank Rosbank. CoinTelegraph also confirmed the removal of these colored payment methods.
As reported earlier by Bitnation, it has been difficult for Binance to find a partner to work as a fiat on and off ramp in the United States. As a result, the exchange announced a partnership with MoonPay, allowing users to buy and sell crypto easily.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
