In recent months, a noteworthy shift has been unfolding among Binance‘s Russian clientele. Indicatively, increasing numbers are seen migrating not only to newly acquired CommEx, but also to other alternative platforms. This trend is discernable through declining peer-to-peer (p2p) operations, according to Satoshkin’s CEO, Dmitry Stepanin. From the start of 2023 to the end of September, daily ruble p2p transaction advertisements on Binance dropped startlingly from 7,700 to 3,400, with no available data in October. Notably, key beneficiaries of this migration appear to be alternative platforms like ByBit, Huobi, Bitget, KuCoin, and Gate.io.
CommEx CEO, Anton Toroptsev, while acknowledging this user migration, emphasised that departing Binance customers were free to set their own course, whether to CommEx or other platforms. Toroptsev anticipated approximately one million users moving to his platform. Contrastingly, independent financial analyst Andrei Barkhota’s estimate of Binance’s Russian registration stands at the 700,000 mark.
The Binance to CommEx client transfer should be staged, with users currently able to login to CommEx via their Binance accounts, sharing only basic KYC and login details. Toroptsev confirmed that full KYC data transfers will be in place within the week, with asset transfers resting in user’s hands, and predicted timeline for complete transition taking 1-3 months.
Presently, Binance’s departure from the Russian market is widely linked to pressures from U.S. regulators, following allegations of money laundering and sanctions evasion through its platform. Measures such as wallet holding restrictions to $10,000 in 2022, limiting foreign currency purchases on p2p platforms, and eventually banning cryptocurrencies trading in all but Russian Rubles have been enforced. Estimated annual earning from Russian clients stood between $400-500 million, Barkhota suggested.
Based on observations from Sergei Mendeleev, head of InDeFi Smart Bank, Binance potentially isn’t bidding farewell entirely to the Russian market, but rather rebranding for a more compliant user interaction. Herein lies the transparent intrigue of our unfolding narrative. This refutes the speculative talk of Binance owning CommEX, seeing as this recent agreement was rather low-profile and the nascent status of CommEx. Denial of these speculations have come from both Changpeng Zhao and CommEx, adding another layer of complexity to this intricate tale of crypto market manoeuvres.
Source: Cryptonews
