Binance reportedly provided personal and transaction details belonging to one of its clients to Russian law enforcement agencies. The information later formed part of the evidence in a terrorism-financing case linked to donations supporting Ukrainian causes.
This occurred well after the exchange publicly declared it had completely withdrawn from the Russian market.
According to documents examined by journalists, Russian investigators sought records connected to cryptocurrency transfers made in response to public fundraising appeals.
Those appeals, associated with an exiled critic of the Kremlin, sought support for medical equipment and related needs tied to Ukrainian forces.
The client in question, a Russian information technology specialist holding a Bulgarian residency permit, was identified through the data supplied by Binance.
The records included confirmation of the transfers, along with personal identifiers such as date of birth, residential address, telephone number, passport details, and copies of both a Russian passport and the Bulgarian residency document.
Russian authorities subsequently detained the individual in September 2025.
He remains in custody awaiting trial on charges that the relatively modest transfers—totaling a few hundred dollars—constituted financing of terrorism.
The Investigative Committee alleged the payments took place between early 2023 and early 2024.
The timing of the data disclosure has raised particular scrutiny.
In September 2023, Binance announced that continued operations in Russia were incompatible with its compliance approach.
The company stated it had sold its local business, retained no ongoing revenue-sharing arrangement, and held no option to reacquire the operation.
Customer migration and service wind-down were expected to take up to a year.
Despite that public exit, investigators were still able to reach the exchange through a dedicated contact channel previously listed for Russian and Belarusian law-enforcement agencies.
Responses containing the relevant client file were returned via that channel.
Legal observers have questioned whether Binance was required to supply the information once it had left the Russian market.
One specialist in cryptocurrency regulation noted that the exchange may have faced no obligation to comply and could even have been constrained by European Union data-protection rules, given the client’s residency status in an EU member state.
Russia is not recognized as offering an equivalent level of personal-data protection under EU standards, making cross-border transfers subject to strict conditions.
Binance has responded by emphasizing that it cooperates with lawful requests from law-enforcement bodies around the world, provided those requests meet applicable legal, privacy, and regulatory standards.
The company stressed that it neither creates nor enforces the laws of any jurisdiction, determines criminal charges, or decides how governments ultimately use the information they receive.
Decisions on prosecution rest solely with the relevant authorities.
The exchange declined to comment specifically on the individual case or on potential implications under European privacy regulations.
The episode underscores a broader reality for centralized crypto platforms.
Commercial withdrawal from a jurisdiction does not automatically erase historical customer records or eliminate channels through which foreign investigators can seek information about past activity.
Users who rely on such platforms for transfers that later become politically sensitive may find that their identifying data remains accessible long after an exchange announces its departure from a given market.
The case continues to highlight tensions between global compliance practices, user privacy expectations, and the differing legal interpretations of support for causes that one government designates as terrorism while others view as legitimate humanitarian or military assistance.