Yerevan – Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, held its first community meetup in the Armenian capital Yerevan. The unprecedented event comes amid reports that the cryptocurrency giant is considering pulling out of Russia.
Reports of several challenges posed by ongoing regulatory hurdles fueled the speculation. Binance has faced compliance issues in the US and other countries.
The exchange has faced pressure from the West. Some countries want Binance (BNB) to have nothing to do with any illegal transactions on behalf of Russian individuals.
According to local media reports, he introduced Binance’s achievements and answered questions and suggestions from Armenian users.
“Armenia is a hotbed of international IT specialists. Also, local specialists are quite qualified. During the few days I’ve been here, I’ve received a lot of emails from various projects trying to find partnerships with Binance .”
The Binance CIS head also expressed interest in strengthening the company’s foothold in the country.
Binance is currently dealing with multiple legal actions initiated by U.S. regulators. As noted in the WSJ report, the cryptocurrency exchange has said it is considering all options, including exiting the Russian market entirely.
On Aug. 22, another Wall Street Journal report revealed that Binance had added sanctioned Russian banks such as Tinkoff and Rosbank to its list of transfer options. The move has sparked criticism that Binance could violate sanctions by endorsing the banks as viable payment channels.
Subsequently, various Russian news sources began reporting that Binance had removed the banks from its roster of payment methods. However, the banks reappeared on the exchange under the symbols “yellow” and “green”. “Yellow” represents the sanctioned Tinkoff bank and “green” represents the sanctioned Rosbank bank.
Last week, the cryptocurrency firm finally removed the banks from the list.
Binance has been taking steps to align with international sanctions in response to allegations earlier this year that Binance facilitated transfers of funds abroad by Russian nationals.
The company has taken action against influential Russians before. It froze accounts linked to Elizabeth Peskova, the daughter of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Additionally, Binance closed an account linked to Polina Kovaleva, the stepdaughter of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Following criticism, the company recently restricted its peer-to-peer trading services to Russians, allowing transactions in rubles only.
It is too early to speculate whether Binance will establish a strong presence in Armenia. However, it is currently considering a “full withdrawal” from Russia.
