Binance is accused of providing users data to Russia

[hatshepsut93]

Reuters has published an investigation where they claim that Binance worked tightly with Russian government, including helping them track donations to opposition politicians

Binance made a statement where they denied all allegations


When you are using a centralized exchange, you are trading your privacy for convenience. Assume that everything that you share with them - your ID, your address, your photo, all your transactions and trading data, will be shared with third parties. It can be your own government, foreign government, private companies and so on. And you never know what consequences it can have, maybe someone will decide to "cancel" or prosecute you over a transaction you did 10 years ago?

[crwth]

This is alarming because I know that Binance also donated funds to Ukraine to help those in need and recover. But the facts that Binance put forward are convincing because they did help analyze data towards cybercriminal rings, and they did do good on that. So, what benefit would they get in providing data to Russia? Unless there's something more underneath it all.

[o_e_l_e_o]

At the time, the agency, known as Rosfinmonitoring or Rosfin, was seeking to trace millions of dollars in bitcoin raised by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a person familiar with the matter said. Navalny, whose network Rosfinmonitoring added that month to a list of terrorist organisations, said the donations were used to finance efforts to expose corruption inside President Vladimir Putin's government.

Binance's head of Eastern Europe and Russia, Gleb Kostarev, consented to Rosfin's request to agree to share client data, the messages showed.

Fuck Binance. Handing over the data of anti-corruption activists and politicians to Putin's party, so they can be allowed to keep operating in the country. The actions of real cypherpunks. Navalny has been poisoned by Putin's government, and is now being tortured in jail after various sham trials. Binance literally putting their own profits ahead of actual human lives. Absolutely disgusting behavior. I think it's time for a #deletebinance campaign.

Binance made a statement where they denied all allegations

Binance also made a statement denying they had been hacked for KYC data, shortly before thousands of their customer's KYC data appeared on darknet markets.

[hatshepsut93]

So, what benefit would they get in providing data to Russia? Unless there's something more underneath it all.

Russian government would have banned Binance in Russia if they refused to cooperate.

This is alarming because I know that Binance also donated funds to Ukraine to help those in need and recover.

The fact that Binance is not banned in Russia after donating to Ukraine and helping with NFTs for Ukraine could be viewed as circumstantial evidence that they indeed work with Russian government. Because Russian government have closed "extremist" sites like Instagram and Facebook over their support for Ukraine and refusal to fully comply with Russia. With this logic they should have banned Binance for donating to Ukraine, which according to Russia is a Nazi country that kills Russians.

[_act_]

When you are using a centralized exchange, you are trading your privacy for convenience. Assume that everything that you share with them - your ID, your address, your photo, all your transactions and trading data, will be shared with third parties. It can be your own government, foreign government, private companies and so on. And you never know what consequences it can have, maybe someone will decide to "cancel" or prosecute you over a transaction you did 10 years ago?

It can also be to terrorists, theives and illicit online criminals or sold to third parties. Data hack is also very common, it happens several times in just every year on different exchanges.

Fuck Binance. Handing over the data of anti-corruption activists and politicians to Putin's party, so they can be allowed to keep operating in the country. The actions of real cypherpunks. Navalny has been poisoned by Putin's government, and is now being tortured in jail after various sham trials. Binance literally putting their own profits ahead of actual human lives. Absolutely disgusting behavior. I think its time for a #deletebinance campaign.

This is shocking, I wanted to post how Binance has said it is a false claim before but it would be wrong this time with the OP, I thought the exchange would have integrity but now this shows us how no integrity is involved. I am very confused about this, the best that can be done is to never provide personal documents on exchanges or others that are requesting for it, this would be a peace of mind by not giving your data out to avoid any doubt that may come up like this. If no data was given, nothing like this would happen, but people will always be people, they like to go the wrong way by providing their person details to politics and selling. If Binance truly did that, that means they sold the data which can be in multi million dollars.

[Lucius]

I would say that someone in this story is lying, because Gleb Kostarev, who is the main man of Binance for Eastern Europe and Russia, actually admitted that he handed over the data to Russian security agencies, while the great boss CZ claims that he has no idea, or that is not true. I am not at all surprised by this business practice by a Chinese company that has very friendly relations with Russia, even though they try to present themselves as humanitarians who donate to Ukraine at the same time.

The fact that Binance is not banned in Russia after donating to Ukraine and helping with NFTs for Ukraine could be viewed as circumstantial evidence that they indeed work with Russian government.

The logical conclusion is that Binance is more valuable to the Russians because of something, regardless of the fact that they donate to the side with which they are at war. I would not be surprised if all the private donations that go through Binance to Ukraine are not shared with Russian security agencies.

[GreatArkansas]

I am hoping this is just fake news and I'm glad that Binance already released a statement that they allegation because this will affect their exchange, especially they have BNB altcoin which their centralized exchange is the biggest player why BNB is soaring in terms of price and trading volume.

People should be aware that this is the biggest threat when using centralized exchange, especially undergoing KYC. Glad to know that there are already a lot of decentralized exchanges nowadays.

[ethereumhunter]

I heard about that news. Reuters claims that they have a document about the conversation of the email between the company with Binance. But I do not know the truth and if I am not mistaken, Kostarev on his Facebook page says that the news is not right. It is impossible for him to give the data to Rosfin or FSB. The situation becomes unpredicted while Binance does not want to freeze the user from Russia because Binance wants to build and expand his business in that country.

[romero121]

Binance being a trusted exchange as well as one among the most used platform based on the service it has been providing. Every beginner to cryptocurrency used to first talk about Binance, because it is that popular. Such a much reputed company should not get into these kind of cheap politics. None is sure to what extent this information is true. If this is true, surely it is contemptible. In what way Binance gonna profit out of providing users data. Also Reuters won't reveal news without proper evidence.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Of course and they do. They're already selling everyone's data. Would they say no if they were going to be removed from Russia?

When you are using a centralized exchange, you are trading your privacy for convenience.

Besides privacy, which is seen as an object of exploitation and blackmailing from Binance, you're also trading your right to move your money wherever and whenever you want. On top of that, you're charged 50k sats each time you transact for confirming you're agreed under these unpropitious conditions.

The best IQ test is with intelligence quotient. The second best is with which way you're using bitcoin.

In what way Binance gonna profit out of providing users data.

In the same way Google, Facebook and every other company that possesses millions of people's information do. They're going to sell it in bulk to private companies which will later analyze it and resell it, or directly to governments.

[stompix]

Déjà vu

We don't expect news coverage to always be positive, or even balanced. But we expect it to be fair and accurate. In this case the article has been carefully written with a narrative in mind that provides just enough balance possible to try to avoid a legal complaint.
Unfortunately, Reuters, one of the most esteemed and trusted news agencies, published this article that completely contradicts the reputation this outlet has built over the years and is not representative of our experience working with countless other journalists in their organization.

2018 Mar 22, 2018:
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/976783934074732544

Nikkei showed irresponsible journalism. We are in constructive dialogs with Japan FSA, and have not received any mandates. It does not make sense for JFSA to tell a newspaper before telling us, while we have an active dialog going on with them.

Mar 23
Crypto exchange Binance ordered to suspend operations in Japan

It's not going to be that fast but how long do you think it will take to find out all the data at Binance has a clone on the FSB's servers?

7 oligarchs have committed suicide this year, 2 just last week, and you're telling me that guy (Gleb Kostarev) still lives in Russia, has no problem with tea, windows, fires one year after denying them access to the servers, and to all the data of the customers?

Fuck Binance. Handing over the data of anti-corruption activists and politicians to Putin's party, so they can be allowed to keep operating in the country.

And now imagine some Russian guy has used an address linked to his Binance account to donate some coins to an Ukrainian fund

So, what benefit would they get in providing data to Russia? Unless there's something more underneath it all.

Staying alive and continuing business? Or face the consequences?

• Sergei Protosenya, a former top executive at Russia’s energy giant Novatek, was discovered dead in a rented villa in Spain on Tuesday, along with his wife and daughter, who were reportedly on vacation for East
• On April 18, just a day before Protosenya’s body was discovered in Spain, former Gazprombank vice-president Vladislav Avaev, along with his wife and daughter, was discovered dead in his multi-million dollar apartment on Universitetsky Prospekt in Moscow.
• On March 24, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported the death of billionaire Vasily Melnikov in his luxury apartment in Nizhny Novgorod Melnikov—who reportedly worked for the medical firm MedStom—was found dead in the apartment together with his wife Galina and two sons.

[rdbase]

This is alarming because I know that Binance also donated funds to Ukraine to help those in need and recover. But the facts that Binance put forward are convincing because they did help analyze data towards cybercriminal rings, and they did do good on that. So, what benefit would they get in providing data to Russia? Unless there's something more underneath it all.

Could of just been a PR stunt so to make them look good in the eyes of global leaders.
I remember reading something about CZ working with the Chinese government but can't recall what that was. So it must of not been that important and just white noise when it comes to this exchange.
They tend to bend to the will so to whitewash their reputation and look good to all who they want to have deals with and intend to in the future.

[cheezcarls]

I don’t believe CZ is going to do that because he knows that integrity and trust is something that he needs to hold on more than what he has. We need more truth to this one, but so far I do not believe in this news that would just simply cause panic to the entire crypto market, especially for those who are using the Binance exchange. But of course, the truth will be uncovered later on but right now I do not believe that Binance is going to do that to cooperate with the evil Russian government.

[fzkto]

Providing your personal data to exchanges is not the smartest idea, much less supporting opposition activity in a country with a dictatorship from a verified account. I don't think that Binance is such a reliable exchange that you can trust your passport to it, especially since there have already been cases of leakage of personal data from there. Binance did not admit it then as well as now.

[Disruptivas]

Exchanges and any other centralized services - ETFs, funds etc - make all utility and benefits of using Bitcoin to be destroyed. All Satoshi wanted was for people to be able to transact P2P, without trusted third parties and in a decentralized system. The use that a large part of the world makes and that generates the biggest ''big'' news is completely against everything.

And the biggest problem for me is that when we use cryptocurrencies ''wrongly'', the risks are even greater than those of the traditional economic system. We are greatly complicating our situation, in terms of privacy and security.

[crwth]

Russian government would have banned Binance in Russia if they refused to cooperate.

I did research quite a bit on it and they are the second-largest volume in trading next to China. So they wouldn't want that for sure. This could be the strong arm or something.

The fact that Binance is not banned in Russia after donating to Ukraine and helping with NFTs for Ukraine could be viewed as circumstantial evidence that they indeed work with Russian government. Because Russian government have closed "extremist" sites like Instagram and Facebook over their support for Ukraine and refusal to fully comply with Russia. With this logic they should have banned Binance for donating to Ukraine, which according to Russia is a Nazi country that kills Russians.

Probably there's something underneath, hmm.

Could of just been a PR stunt so to make them look good in the eyes of global leaders.
I remember reading something about CZ working with the Chinese government but can't recall what that was. So it must of not been that important and just white noise when it comes to this exchange.
They tend to bend to the will so to whitewash their reputation and look good to all who they want to have deals with and intend to in the future.

It could've been. As long as they make it seem that they are doing good, they do it. I hope there are no more scandals on it or something because it's not great to have that with an exchange like Binance. Kinda sketchy

[Argoo]

So, what benefit would they get in providing data to Russia? Unless there's something more underneath it all.

Russian government would have banned Binance in Russia if they refused to cooperate.

This is alarming because I know that Binance also donated funds to Ukraine to help those in need and recover.

The fact that Binance is not banned in Russia after donating to Ukraine and helping with NFTs for Ukraine could be viewed as circumstantial evidence that they indeed work with Russian government. Because Russian government have closed "extremist" sites like Instagram and Facebook over their support for Ukraine and refusal to fully comply with Russia. With this logic they should have banned Binance for donating to Ukraine, which according to Russia is a Nazi country that kills Russians.

Well, now it is Russia that is killing the Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine, and by the hundreds and thousands. The Russians invaded Ukraine, apparently with the aim of freeing their Russian speakers, who live compactly in the Donbass, from some mythical "Nazis". But now, with the help of artillery and rockets, they are making scorched earth, almost completely destroying settlements on their way. Russian speakers are now cursing the Russians. After the war, I think the issue of the Russian language on the territory of Ukraine will be unambiguously resolved in favor of Ukrainian.
Putin, like no one else, unwittingly did a lot of good things for uniting the Ukrainian nation, and indeed for uniting NATO.
As for Binance, it is quite possible that this exchange cooperates with all parties at once. But for now, these are just speculations.

[mindrust]

Reuters has published an investigation where they claim that Binance worked tightly with Russian government, including helping them track donations to opposition politicians
Binance made a statement where they denied all allegations
When you are using a centralized exchange, you are trading your privacy for convenience. Assume that everything that you share with them - your ID, your address, your photo, all your transactions and trading data, will be shared with third parties. It can be your own government, foreign government, private companies and so on. And you never know what consequences it can have, maybe someone will decide to "cancel" or prosecute you over a transaction you did 10 years ago?

Russia, China, USA... It doesn't matter who gets your data. Once you use any of those centralized exchanges, somebody will take a peek at your actions. Same with the banks. Every purchase you made is recorded and will be used against you when needed.

That's why you shouldn't be too "careless" with you crypto purchases. If you are doing something you shouldn't be doing, then you better take serious precautions or don't do it all.

[Darker45]

This is alarming because I know that Binance also donated funds to Ukraine to help those in need and recover. But the facts that Binance put forward are convincing because they did help analyze data towards cybercriminal rings, and they did do good on that. So, what benefit would they get in providing data to Russia? Unless there's something more underneath it all.

There is always something more to what's shown in the surface. Businesses, just like people, always maintain a different face in the public and another when in closed doors.

What benefit? Well, not only is Binance still doing business in Russia, it has actually experienced growth ever since the invasion began. Or perhaps, as Kostarev mentioned, "he didn't have 'much of a choice' in the matter." We all know how Russia works.

Binance itself admitted that they are "actively seeking compliance in Russia." And if we look at Binance's track record, it is not unimaginable that they would easily give in to, in their own words, "appropriate requests from regulators and law enforcement agencies."

[Rikafip]

This is alarming because I know that Binance also donated funds to Ukraine to help those in need and recover.

Binance donating funds to Ukraine is nothing but a PR stunt. Not that many others are not guilty of the same thing of course...

So, what benefit would they get in providing data to Russia?

They want to be able to operate in Russia so of course they will do whatever its needed to keep the status quo, as simple as that. And they will do the same thing for any other country that has big enough market.

I don’t believe CZ is going to do that because he knows that integrity and trust is something that he needs to hold on more than what he has.

Ferengi Rule of Acquisiton: "Let others keep their reputation. You keep their money".

But of course, the truth will be uncovered later on but right now I do not believe that Binance is going to do that to cooperate with the evil Russian government.

Binance is ready to cooperate with any government, that's just how all exchanges operate, especially those that are as ambitious as Binance and are getting into everything.