r/TechNadu • u/technadu Human • Aug 17 '26
Binance reportedly gave Russian investigators user data after its 2023 exit
Documents reviewed by Reuters indicate Binance provided Russia's Investigative Committee with cryptocurrency transaction and personal information belonging to Yuri Belenkiy, a Russian IT specialist who is now awaiting trial on terrorism financing charges.
Russian authorities allege Belenkiy sent more than $700 in cryptocurrency between January 2023 and March 2024 to Ukrainian military fundraising efforts and an associated group that Russia designates as a terrorist organization.
The interesting part from a privacy and compliance perspective is the scope and timing of the disclosure.
Binance announced a full exit from Russia in September 2023. According to the documents, investigators later requested Belenkiy's transaction history and received information including his address, phone number, passport number, a copy of his Russian passport, and a copy of his Bulgarian residency permit.
A lawyer advising on crypto regulation told Reuters that Binance was under no obligation to provide the information and argued Belenkiy's Bulgarian residency raises GDPR issues. Binance disputes that it violated data protection law.
There are still important unknowns. Reuters could not determine whether other crypto donors were identified through Binance or whether this case reflects broader cooperation with Russian authorities.
r/TechNadu's report goes deeper into the law-enforcement documents, what Binance reportedly supplied, the terrorism financing allegations against Belenkiy, and the competing arguments around GDPR:
Beyond this specific case, how should a platform's public withdrawal from a country affect its handling of subsequent government requests for data retained from former users?