Stephanie Douse 
Following the European Union’s fifth package of sanctions against Russia, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, is imposing significant restrictions on Russian users.
Binance imposed new restrictions for Russian nationals and residents on Thursday, prohibiting them from trading if they have more than 10,000 euros ($10,800).
Binance’s spot, futures, and custody wallets, as well as staked and earned deposits, are no longer available to restricted accounts. According to the notice, the ban applies to Russian nationals, natural persons resident in Russia, and legal entities based in Russia.
“Accounts for Russian nationals residing outside Russia, as verified with proof of address, and accounts for Russian nationals or natural persons residing in Russia, or legal entities established in Russia, that remain below a total value of 10,000 EUR, will remain unaffected and active.”
Individuals and institutions restricted from trading futures or derivatives will have 90 days to close their positions.
The newly enacted rules, according to Binance, are “possibly restricting to ordinary Russian individuals.” “Binance must continue to set the bar for the industry in terms of enforcing these punishments. “We expect that all other major exchanges will soon be required to follow the same standards,” the business noted.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao previously stated that cryptocurrency exchanges, like traditional financial institutions, must adhere to sanctions. Due to Western sanctions against Russia, Binance will not “unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts,” according to the CEO.
On April 8, the EU approved the fifth package of sanctions on Russia, imposing a range of restrictions on the Russian government in retaliation for its activities against Ukraine. A limitation on offering “high-value crypto-asset services to Russia” was included in the package.