Binance Customer Data Scandal Tests EU Privacy Rules

Binance has faced scrutiny over its handling of customer data after documents revealed that it supplied information to Russian investigators. The records concern Yuri Belenkiy, a Russian IT specialist who was living in Bulgaria at the time.

The exchange provided Russian law-enforcement authorities with details about cryptocurrency donations to Ukrainian causes, which were later used in a terrorism-financing case. This raises questions about Binance's claims that it had fully exited Russia in 2023.

Leaving a market commercially does not necessarily end every legal, technical or record-retention relationship connected with former customers. An exchange may retain historical account data and continue to receive demands from authorities long after it stops accepting new business.

The decisive issue is therefore not the public description of the exit alone, but which Binance entity controlled Belenkiy's information, where that entity was established, when the disclosure occurred, what data were supplied and under which legal mechanism.