Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced on September 27 that it has withdrawn from the Russian market and transferred all its assets to CommEX, a newly launched cryptocurrency exchange. Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao stated in his recent post on his personal account that some former members of the Binance cryptography and information security team can join CommEX.
Zhao’s statement came after Binance officially announced its complete withdrawal from Russia and the transfer of its assets to CommEX, a cryptocurrency exchange that was launched on September 26.
Zhao, who wants to eliminate the doubts and questions arising from the similarities in the user interfaces of the two cryptocurrency exchanges, emphasized that Binance specifically wanted it to be this way, stating “Their designs, APIs, and everything else resemble Binance. We wanted it to be this way to provide a seamless user experience.”
Furthermore, Zhao stated that CommEX does not serve users from the United States or the European Union, adding, “There are IP and KYC restrictions. This was a condition we requested in the agreement.”
Zhao also clarified that he does not have the ultimate right to CommEX and does not have any shares in the new cryptocurrency exchange, saying, “There is no buyback option in the agreement. A Google search shows that some companies, such as Mercedes, McDonald’s, and Nissan, have buyback options in their sales agreements in Russia, but that is not the case here.”
The Binance CEO also added that there will be cryptocurrency transfers between Binance and CommEX during the transition period when users’ funds are transferred.
Questions about CommEX
Meanwhile, despite Zhao’s statement, the cryptocurrency community continues to seek answers to many questions regarding CommEX. While no information is provided about who owns or operates the cryptocurrency exchange, there is no concrete information on these matters other than that any legal disputes will be resolved in Hong Kong. Although Binance denies the allegations that the cryptocurrency exchange is its shadow owner, it also denies that CommEX uses the same underlying technology.
Although CommEX defines itself as a rapidly expanding cryptocurrency exchange supported by top-level crypto VCs on its information page on Binance’s cryptocurrency data and price platform CoinMarketCap, the names of these crypto VCs are not disclosed.
