Binance Sells Russian Unit to Day-Old CommEX, Exits Country

Crypto exchange Binance has agreed to sell the entirety of its Russia business to CommEX as it looks to fully exit the market over compliance concerns.

"As we look toward the future, we recognize that operating in Russia is not compatible with Binance's compliance strategy," Noah Perlman, Binance's chief compliance officer said in a press statement.

CommEX appears to be a crypto exchange that was officially launched on Tuesday, while it seemingly listed BTC/USDT and ETH/USDT trading pairs for spot trading in July. On its X (formerly Twitter) account, CommEX on Wednesday welcomed its "new users from Russia and around the world!"

It was reported earlier this year that Binance was facing a Department of Justice inquiry into whether Russian customers were able to access the exchange in violation of U.S. sanctions related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In August, the firm said it was cutting ties with sanctioned Russian banks.

Binance said on Wednesday that with the sale, it would exit the country completely, adding "Binance will sunset all exchange services and business lines in Russia" over the next several months.

"Unlike similar deals from international companies in Russia, Binance will have no ongoing revenue split from the sale, nor does it maintain any option to buy back shares in the business," the release said.

CommEX said it will not onboard customers from the U.S, EU and some other jurisdictions.

The off-boarding process for existing Russian users will take up to one year and all their assets are "safe and protected," the firm said.

UPDATE (Sept. 27, 09:02 UTC): Updates headline, adds details and background.