Binance Restricts Russian Access To Foreign Currency Purchases
The world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, has banned Russians and anyone living in Russia from buying and selling dollars and euros through its P2P service. This move comes in accordance with the tenth package of restrictive measures of the European Union against Russia. In addition, the exchange has also banned EU citizens from buying and selling rubles on P2P.
According to Forbes Russia, Binance has shut down the channel for Russians to buy and sell dollars and euros through its p2p service. Additionally, the exchange prohibits EU citizens from buying and selling Russia rubles through P2P. https://t.co/e49pV9kkfs
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Restrictions on Binance’s P2P Services
P2P services allow users to make transactions between themselves without the mediation of the exchange, on terms determined by themselves. The P2P services of Binance and other crypto-exchanges were actively used by Russians in 2022 as a tool for transferring money abroad – after ordinary SWIFT transfers became difficult.
The decision by Binance is expected to have a significant impact on those who engage in arbitrage trading and use transactions on P2P sites as an analogue of SWIFT transfers. However, for all other users, this ban is unlikely to bring significant inconvenience, according to Alexey Zyuzin, the founder of the consulting company Crypto Holding.
Previously, Binance had limited only the marginal value of assets on the balance of crypto wallets of Russians – from April it should not exceed the equivalent of € 10,000. However, the restrictions were not included immediately after exceeding the limit, and in order to remove them, it was enough to withdraw an amount exceeding € 10,000 from the wallet.
Alternative Fiat Currencies
Experts noted that the application of sanctions against Russians by the largest crypto exchange last year was quite soft. In particular, Binance did not close the opportunity for Russians to use the exchange, as required by the eighth package of EU sanctions.
Binance has advised users to choose other available fiat currencies to continue using P2P services. When attempting to conduct a transaction, the site offers users the option to select the “local currency for P2P trading” in accordance with the Binance rules “for the country specified during verification”.
