When Russian investigators detained IT specialist Yuri Belenkiy in September 2025, Binance had been formally out of Russia for nearly two years. However, law enforcement documents reviewed by Reuters show that the exchange supplied personal and transaction data that were later incorporated into a Russian terrorism-financing case against Belenkiy.
Belenkiy, a 49-year-old Russian passport holder with a Bulgarian residence permit, is accused of sending more than $700 in crypto to Ukrainian recipients between January 2023 and March 2024. Russian authorities claim the payments supported a group linked to the Azov military unit, which Moscow designates as a terrorist organization. Belenkiy is currently in a Russian jail awaiting trial, and the allegations have not been adjudicated.
The case illustrates the limits of what an exchange's market exit means for former customers. While a company can sell its local operation, stop onboarding users, and remove local staff, it often retains years of passports, addresses, and account histories because financial regulations require strict recordkeeping. Those files remain accessible long after the commercial relationship ends.
Binance announced the sale of its entire Russian business to CommEX on Sept. 27, 2023, presenting the move as a complete exit and denying any continuing revenue split or buyback option. Documents reviewed by Reuters describe a subsequent law enforcement request for transaction records connected to Belenkiy. A response sent from an address using the domain binanceholdings.ru included his date of birth, residential address, phone number, passport number, and copies of his passport and Bulgarian residence permit.
The documents do not establish that Binance secretly continued operating its old Russian exchange, as data cooperation and customer servicing are distinct activities. Financial companies rarely promise the complete deletion or isolation of historical records because anti-money laundering and record-retention rules often mandate the preservation of customer materials.
Binance told Reuters that it cooperates with lawful law enforcement requests under applicable legal, privacy, and regulatory requirements, adding that it does not decide what charges authorities file or how they use the provided information. The exchange's public guidelines state that officials must provide supporting documents and a valid court order, police order, or warrant from a competent jurisdiction.
The situation underscores the privacy paradox created by modern regulation. While blockchains record transfers under pseudonymous addresses, know-your-customer (KYC) requirements force centralized exchanges to collect identifying data. When an identity file is joined with the public ledger, investigators can reconstruct activity years later. Regulatory mandates requiring intermediaries to preserve customer files mean that personal data frequently remains active on a legal timetable long after an operating exit has concluded.
