Binance denies report it agreed to share user data with Russian FSB-controlled agencies
Binance posted a denial yesterday of a Reuters report saying that it had agreed to share user information with a Russian financial intelligence agency called Rosfin that collects and analyzes data, and added that it would be making a formal complaint to Reuters citing the media company’s own editorial code.
The post by the crypto exchange noted that “a recent article by Reuters has sought to portray - falsely - that Binance has close ties with FSB controlled agencies and Russian regulators.”
The Reuters report, citing text messages, said: “Binance's head of Eastern Europe and Russia, Gleb Kostarev, consented to Rosfin's request to agree to share client data, the messages showed.”
At the time, April 2021, Rosfin was seeking to trace millions of dollars in bitcoin raised by jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to the report.
The Binance denial contained a series of bullet-pointed items including: “Suggestions that Binance shared any user data, including Alexei Navalny, with Russian FSB controlled agencies and Russian regulators are categorically false.”
The Block reported yesterday that a Binance representative said the company did not assist the Russian state in its attempts to investigate Navalny.
Binance went on to say that prior to the current conflict in Ukraine, its “engagement in Russia was no different from that of any other international organization.”
It added that after the war began, Binance stopped working in Russia and has “aggressively implemented sanctions,” noting that is has also donated more than $10 million to the humanitarian effort to help Ukrainians.
