Binance‘s decision to terminate all operations in Russia has sparked a major controversy. According to the claims, after discontinuing its services, Binance acquired a local exchange called CommEx and incorporated its former employees into the company. Changpeng Zhao emphasized his support for the former employees joining CommEx, considering it a positive development.
CommEx Officials Continue to Insist
In a public announcement on September 29, CommEx stated that it has no affiliation with Binance. While the company officials refrain from making any statements about the owners of CommEx, they confirmed that the company has undergone a six-month development process and includes former Binance employees. They added:
“We are a dynamic and productive start-up team consisting of dozens of passionate individuals with different backgrounds.”
The announcement confirms that former Binance team members are working in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) division of Binance, indicating that Binance does not have ownership and only former employees are part of the company.
“This allowed us to learn from Binance’s product and operation experiences and establish indirect connections with them.”
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao made a post on X regarding this matter on September 28. CZ stated that former Binance employees in Binance CIS will join or may have already joined CommEx, and he emphasized his belief that this is a positive development.
Claims Gain Strength
CommEx not only hired former Binance employees but also copied many features such as Binance’s design, application programming interfaces, and terms of use. CZ further confused the situation by stating that they wanted to provide a seamless user experience.
CZ also pointed out that CommEx does not serve users residing in the US and Europe. The CEO mentioned that these users would encounter intellectual property and Know Your Customer barriers when trying to access CommEx. CZ commented on the matter:
“This was a condition we requested in the agreement.”
According to information obtained from customer representatives in CommEx’s official Telegram group, CommEx users can trade up to 2 Bitcoin (worth $54,000) without completing the KYC process. The reluctance to provide information about the owners of CommEx, combined with the possession of former Binance employees and a similar website design and APIs, further strengthens the rumors that Binance owns the company.
