Benzinga - Crypto exchange Binance (CRYPTO: BUSD) plans to leave Russia and now wants to halt local currency deposits in the coming week, effective Nov. 15, 2023, as stated on its blog.
The exchange also advised users to withdraw the Russian currency from the platform, as it was expected to terminate withdrawals starting Jan. 31, 2024.
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Binance users would transfer funds to a new crypto exchange business, CommEX, wherein the ruble withdrawals would be zero-fee.
Withdrawal options include Binance’s fiat partners that would enable users to convert ruble to cryptocurrency using the “Convert” tool or just exchange on the Binance Spot Market. The withdrawals through fiat partners charge a fee of up to 1%, CoinTelegraph reported.
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Background: CommEX acquired Binance’s Russian division in September 2023 as part of the latter’s step to shut down operations in the country. The deal seemed up in the air as the companies did not provide any details about the deal or CommEX founders.
A few industry observers commented that CommEX was just a new name for Binance for the exchange to continue Russian operations without having issues with Western sanctions against the country.
Binance completely denied any such possible ties with CommEX.
Russian users’ off-boarding process from Binance would likely take up to one year with reassurance that users’ funds were completely safe, CoinGape reported.
Recently, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange came very close — second place — to Binance, which was the winner for the largest Bitcoin futures exchange led by an institutional rally amid the spot Bitcoin ETF optimism.
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