At the end of August 2023, popular crypto exchanges adjusted the operation of their peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms. Many changes affected ruble transactions.
We tell you which crypto exchanges have adjusted the operation of their P2P platforms and where to now conduct transactions with the national currency of the Russian Federation
Why P2P Platforms Are Under Attack
Many participants in the Russian crypto community switched to P2P platforms of popular crypto exchanges due to the withdrawal of Visa and MasterCard from the country. The fact is that payment systems took with them the ability to pay with the cards of Russian banks on foreign platforms.
Therefore, participants in the Russian crypto community lost the opportunity to buy and sell cryptocurrency on crypto exchanges using credit/debit cards from domestic credit institutions.
Click here to learn about the 13 best non-KYC crypto exchanges
On P2P, users make trades directly with each other – bypassing the trading platform. This payment method allows you to bypass the restrictions that Russians faced due to the departure of Visa and MasterCard from Russia.
Unfortunately, regulators saw the interest of Russian citizens in P2P of popular crypto exchanges as a loophole that helps to circumvent sanctions. Large trading platforms have begun to face accusations that they help Russians overcome restrictions in the financial market. In particular, the largest crypto exchange, Binance, faced such claims.
The reaction to regulatory pressure was to change the rules for Russians to work on P2P trading platforms. We tell you what innovations users of popular crypto exchanges have encountered.
What Has Changed in the P2P Market
The most radical changes affected users of the OKX crypto exchange. The trading platform has removed the ruble from its P2P platform. However, Russia is not a key market for OKX. 9% of the trading platform’s customers are Ukrainians.
Whereas 8% of customers are from Japan and 6% from Belarus. Therefore, we can assume that abandoning the ruble did not become a big sacrifice for OKX.
Other large crypto exchanges did not remove the ruble from P2P but adjusted the platform’s operation. For example, Binance prohibited Russians from conducting P2P transactions with all currencies except the ruble.
Also, within the walls of the Binance P2P platform and many other crypto exchanges, including Bybit, sanctioned Russian banks, such as Sberbank and Tinkoff, disappeared.
Rather, credit institutions were disguised, probably to avoid the attention of regulators. For example, on Binance, P2P ad creators offer transactions through Sberbank and Tinkoff. Sometimes, ads are disguised as transactions on cards of other banks, as in the screenshot below.
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