Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, recently announced that it will permanently halt peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions with the Russian Ruble (RUB), including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), at the end of January. This move came after the agreement to sell all of Binance’s assets in Russia to the newly established cryptocurrency exchange CommEx, following regulatory pressures.
Binance Halts Russian Ruble (RUB) Transactions on P2P
In its official announcement today, Binance stated that P2P transactions for the Russian Ruble (RUB) will be discontinued from 03:00 Turkish Standard Time on January 31, 2024. Accordingly, Binance will remove transaction pairs such as USDT/RUB, BTC/RUB, FDUSD/RUB, BNB/RUB, ETH/RUB, BUSD/RUB, and RUB/RUB from the P2P platform. This move by the cryptocurrency exchange is part of its withdrawal from the Russian market and the sale of all its assets in the country to the newly established cryptocurrency exchange CommEX. According to the agreement, the withdrawal process will take about a year.
Users will be able to continue P2P trading with RUB on CommEX without paying any fees. Users can also withdraw RUB through Binance’s fiat partners before the final date stated by the cryptocurrency exchange or convert their RUBs into cryptocurrency through the Binance Convert option. These transactions can be made after registering with CommEX and connecting the Binance account to the platform.
In November of this year, Binance began to remove RUB trading pairs for major cryptocurrencies such as ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, SOL, MATIC, LTC, DOT, and BUSD. In addition, ALGO/RUB, ARB/RUB, ARKM/RUB, ARPA/RUB, NEAR/RUB, and WLD/RUB trading pairs were also removed.
Pulled Out of the Russian Market Following US Pressure
Binance had to withdraw from the Russian market due to legal challenges and the investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into money laundering and sanctions violations. Furthermore, Changpeng Zhao resigned from the CEO position following Binance’s $4.3 billion agreement with U.S. authorities.
The new CEO, Richard Teng, made an ambitious debut, stating that Binance will maintain its dominance in the cryptocurrency market and its core values in the new era. Teng has been in the spotlight with significant interviews, events, and AMA sessions since he took office.
