The cryptocurrency exchange rejected the accusations by Reuters and said that they would formally complain. An alleged terrorist foundation supporting Russian opponent Alexei Navalny accepts donations in BTC through Binance.
Bitcoin (BTC) exchange Binance is currently facing accusations for allegedly disrespecting the privacy of its users. Reuters stated that the company gave data about its clients to the Russian politician Alexey Navalny, a fierce opponent of President Vladimir Putin. The exchange responded by dissociating itself from the remarks made by the international news agency.
Reuters said that the Russian government pressured Binance to provide them with sensitive data about their users under the excuse of fighting crime. The media outlet considers that this left its directors without many options but to yield to the State.
Rosfinmonitoring, an agency aiming to combat money laundering and other crimes, was responsible for that pressure. That organization is a subsidiary of the FSB, Russian intelligence, one of the successors of the now-defunct KGB.
That agency intended to track the millions of US dollars in Bitcoin raised by Navalny through his Foundation. The Kremlin described that network as a terrorist organization. The opponent, who is now in prison, said that they would use those funds to expose the alleged corruption of President Putin.
The Foundation has urged people to donate cryptocurrencies through Binance since Navalny went to jail in January 2021. They presented it as the safest way to do it since nobody would know the data about the donors.
Amid pressure, Gleb Kostarev, the head of Binance for Eastern Europe and Russia, had to share sensitive data about its clients with Rosfinmonitoring. The agency stated that it had access to data that confirmed it, to which Kostarev reportedly responded that he did not have many options.
Binance Dissociates Itself from the Accusations by Reuters
After the Reuters report, Binance dissociated itself from those accusations and refuted them. The firm said that it did not provide any information about its clients to the Russian government.
On its official blog, the company described the article by Reuters as a false narrative. They defended that this media outlet has falsely portrayed that Binance has close ties with FSB-controlled agencies and Russian regulators.
Binance denied sharing data about its users, including Alexei Navalny, with agencies controlled by the FSB and Russian regulators.
The head of Binance for Eastern Europe and Russia, Gleb Kostarev, defended himself. He posted on Facebook that neither he nor Binance has leaked data about Navalny and other users to Rosfinmonitoring.
According to Binance, Russia pressured exchanges operating in the territory due to the development of a regulatory framework. They ended those talks when the invasion of Ukraine by the Eurasian country broke out.
Instead, the cryptocurrency exchange became the only one implementing a package of measures against Russian account holders. They recently restricted its users, complying with the sanctions imposed by the European Union for the events in Ukraine.
Binance said they would formally complain about Reuters publishing an article that contradicts its reputation as a news agency. They highlighted that it does not represent their experience working with many journalists in their organization.
By Alexander Salazar
