Binance complains about the lack of clarity of EU sanctions against the Russian Federation

What’s new? Binance’s global head of sanctions, Chagri Poyraz, told Cointelegraph in an interview with Cointelegraph that the European Union’s restrictions against Russia have become a serious problem for the company, and it has been working hard to comply with them. He noted that Binance has more than 500 compliance executives worldwide, and about half of them are directly involved in sanctions control, including anti-money laundering, name screening and other procedures. While the exchange did not block all Russians, Poyraz added that Binance has “zero tolerance” for accounts blocked as a result of targeted sanctions.

Cointelegraph’s material

What else did Poyraz add? A spokesman for the exchange noted that for the company, “the hardest part is the EU sanctions.” In his opinion, the industry needs more clarity on the issue. According to Poyraz, Binance has failed to establish a “particular dialogue” with the European regulator sincethe eighth package of sanctions was passed on October 6. In his view, the current uncertainty over EU sanctions against Russia is not just a problem for Binance, but for the entire industry.

“We do obviously follow all the EU sanctions, but there is room for improvement when it comes to clarity. […] We are trying to follow sanctions as they are. The challenge is not overdoing, doing what you’ve been told. The regulation has to be clear,” Poyraz said.

He explained that, unlike the EU, the US provided lists of specific individuals and organizations, as well as wallets, against which restrictions were imposed, attaching appropriate recommendations.

NFT platform Dapper, the exchanges Cryptopay, LocalBitcoins, Kraken, and Crypto.com, as well as wallet manufacturer Ledger, have already imposed restrictions on Russian users — they stopped shipping devices to the Russian Federation. Managing partner of GMT Legal Andrey Tugarin recommended that Russians withdraw funds from centralized platforms licensed in the EU.

To find out which exchanges impose restrictions on customers from the Russian Federation and how the new sanctions will affect users of hardware wallets, see GetBlock Magazine’s materials.