$700 to Ukraine. Binance Sent Russia the File.
Binance provided Russian investigators with the transaction records and personal details — passport copies included — of Yuri Belenkiy, a Russian IT specialist who donated just over $700 to Ukrainian fundraising groups, per a Reuters investigation citing law-enforcement documents. The data was cited in terrorism-financing charges; Belenkiy has been jailed since September 2025 awaiting trial. Binance exited Russia in 2023 but answered the request through a channel its own site lists for Russian law enforcement, saying it cooperates with lawful requests.
Binance: you can't withdraw your KYC
A Russian IT worker sent about $700 — the price of a phone — to Ukrainian fundraisers. Binance sent Russian investigators his transaction history, his address, his phone number and copies of his passports. He's in jail awaiting trial for financing terrorism.
Binance left Russia in 2023. The data didn't leave. Binance says the request was lawful — which it was. That's the point. Every exchange answers lawful requests, and lawful means whatever the requesting state's law says. Russia's law says donating to Ukraine is terrorism.
Here's the lesson for anyone holding coins on any exchange, anywhere: you can withdraw your money. You can never withdraw your KYC. The identity file you handed over at signup outlives your account, your exchange's promises, and its exit from your country.
Bitcoin was built so money couldn't be stopped by the state. The places most people keep it report to the state by design — and that's the difference between owning bitcoin and owning a claim on it.