When the Russian army invaded Ukraine early last year Many Western countries responded by imposing heavy sanctions on the country. For example, Russian residents were not allowed to use cryptocurrency exchanges that were not Russian, Not even the biggest platforms. However, Binance ignored this rule. This is why the US Department of Justice is now investigating the platform.

Binance bypassed sanctions against Russia and Iran

It’s no secret that Binance allowed Russian clients even after sanctions were imposed. It was required that these people have no more than €10,000 worth of cryptocurrency on Binance.

But last month it was announced that the company has begun to offer its services again to all Russians, including people who want to invest more than 10,000 euros. However, Binance itself has neither confirmed nor denied this, possibly because the sanctions are still in effect. After all, these apply to all financial service providers, including regular banks. Russia is still cut off from the SWIFT payment system.

The trading platform is no stranger to avoiding penalties. For example, it also allowed Iranians to trade from 2018 to 2021, despite severe sanctions against Iran also at that time. Earlier this year it was announced that she is now aware of the fact that this is not allowed and expects the US government to issue fines.

Bloomberg: The US government is investigating Binance

So the US government is clearly not happy with that. bloomberg He writes Based on Information from its own sources that Binance is under investigation by the National Security Division of the US Department of Justice. Binance and senior Binance executives could potentially be suspected of violating the sanctions.

Meanwhile, Binance told the US business daily in a statement that it is fully complying with all US and international financial sanctions. It also says that it will overhaul Binance’s structure in 2021, though it did not elaborate on this.

Binance accounted for 53% of all instant transactions in the cryptocurrency market in March, according to Bloomberg. In fact, 62% of the perpetual futures volume came from Binance.