Binance News: Exchange Gave Russia User Data In Terrorism Case
Lakshya Divekar
Binance News: Russia Used Binance User Data in Terrorism Case
Reuters broke one of the bigger crypto news Binance news stories of the week on August 17, 2026: the exchange gave Russian authorities a customer's personal and transaction data, and that data ended up as evidence in a terrorism financing case against him.
The report was also highlighted by WuBlockchain, which shared the development on August 17, citing Reuters' findings on Binance's disclosure of Belenkiy's user and transaction data to Russian authorities. 
The report leans on law enforcement documents obtained by The First Department, a Russian legal group, and independently reviewed by the news agency.
The customer is Yuri Belenkiy, a 49-year-old IT specialist who holds both a Russian passport and a Bulgarian residency permit. He was detained in September 2025, formally charged on October 13 that year, and he's still sitting in a Russian jail awaiting trial.
What makes this Yuri Belenkiy case notable isn't just the charge itself; it's the timing. Binance had already told the world it left Russia back in 2023.
What Exactly Did the Exchange Hand Over?
Per the documents, Russia's Investigative Committee asked for Belenkiy's transaction history. Two replies came back from case@binanceholdings.ru, an email address the company's own website listed as the go-to contact for Russian and Belarusian law enforcement.
(Source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/binance-gave-moscow-client-details-used-charge-russian-over-ukraine-donations-2026-08-17/)
The data file that came through reportedly included the following:
Confirmation that Belenkiy initiated the crypto transfer under investigation
His date of birth, home address, and phone number
His passport number, plus a scanned copy of the passport itself
A copy of his Bulgarian residency permit
That's a fairly complete dossier for a $700 transaction, and it's now one of the more widely discussed pieces of Binance news to surface this year, since that same file became evidence used against him in court.
Why Was He Charged in the First Place?
Investigators say Belenkiy sent more than $700 worth of crypto between January 2023 and March 2024.
The transfer, according to the case file, was a response to a public appeal from Arkady Babchenko, an exiled Kremlin critic who's been soliciting donations for Ukrainian soldiers on Telegram.
Russian authorities tied the funds to the Ukrainian military and a group linked to the Azov Brigade, an organization Moscow has designated as terrorist.
Event | Date |
Alleged crypto transfers | Jan 2023 – Mar 2024 |
Announced Russia exit | September 2023 |
Belenkiy detained | September 2025 |
Formally charged | October 13, 2025 |
Reuters report published | August 17, 2026 |
An Exit That Wasn't Quite Complete
This is the part of the story that raises real questions. A full market exit should mean no more requests get answered from that country, right?
Yet the Russian business went to CommEX back in September 2023, with no revenue-sharing arrangement or buyback clause attached, and the case@binanceholdings.ru inbox kept working long after that.
Dmitry Zair-Bek, who heads The First Department, put it plainly: how are users supposed to trust their data stays private once a company has already announced it walked away?
And this isn't an isolated incident either. Reuters previously reported in 2022 that a regional Binance executive met with Russia's Financial Monitoring Agency in 2021 over requests for client data linked to jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
Read Reuters' earlier investigation. Binance's line then was that it had never been contacted about Navalny specifically
(Source : https://www.reuters.com/technology/how-crypto-giant-binance-built-ties-russian-fsb-linked-agency-2022-04-22/)
What Binance Is Saying
The latest Binance news also puts the exchange's data-sharing practices under scrutiny. A spokesperson said the company cooperates with lawful information requests worldwide, subject to applicable legal, privacy, and regulatory rules, adding that it doesn't control what authorities do with information once it's handed over.
It wouldn't comment on Belenkiy's case directly. Its current law-enforcement guidelines call for a valid court order, police order, or warrant before any user data goes out during a criminal probe.
Rights activists tracking these prosecutions say several dozen people have already been convicted in Russia over crypto donations Moscow labels extremist, though the exact figure remains unconfirmed by Reuters.
For anyone following Binance news and broader crypto news, the case is a useful reminder that a company saying it has left a market doesn't always mean it has stopped communicating with that market's authorities.
Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available information and reports from Reuters and other cited sources. The allegations and claims discussed in this article are attributed to Russian authorities and other sources and should not be considered as established facts or a final judgment.
