“Binance Faces US Probe Over Possible Violation of Russian Sanctions”

When the Russian army invaded Ukraine early last year many Western countries responded by imposing heavy sanctions on the country. For example, Russian residents were not allowed to use crypto exchanges that were not Russian, not even the largest platforms. However, Binance ignored this rule. That is why the US Department of Justice is now investigating the platform.

Binance bypassed sanctions against Russia and Iran

It is no secret that Binance allowed Russian customers even after the sanctions were imposed. It was required that these people had no more than 10,000 euros worth of crypto on Binance.

But last month it was announced that the company has started offering its services again to all Russians, including people who want to invest more than 10,000 euros. However, Binance itself has never confirmed nor denied this, presumably because the sanctions are still in place. After all, these apply to all financial service providers, including regular banks. Russia is still cut off from the SWIFT payment system.

The trading platform is no stranger to avoiding sanctions. For example, it also allowed Iranians to trade from 2018 to 2021, despite heavy sanctions against Iran also being introduced at that time. Earlier this year it was announced that it is now aware of the fact that this was not allowed and that it expects the US government to issue fines.

Bloomberg: US government is investigating Binance

It is therefore obvious that the US government is not happy about this. Bloomberg writes on the basis of information from its own sources that Binance is under investigation by the National Security Division of the US Department of Justice. Binance and possibly Binance top executives would be suspected of violating the sanctions.

Meanwhile, Binance told the American business newspaper in a statement that it fully complies with all US and international financial sanctions. It also says it will overhaul Binance’s corporate structure in 2021, although it has not elaborated on this.

Binance accounted for 53% of all spot transactions in the crypto market in March, according to Bloomberg. In fact, 62% of all perpetual futures volume came from Binance.