Cryptocurrency exchange Binance gave Russian security services data on one of its users. Now he’s on trial for donating to Ukraine’s military.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, handed Russian security officials information about one of its users, IT specialist Yuri Belenky, whom Russian authorities have accused of financing terrorism over his donations to Ukraine’s armed forces, the human rights project Department One reported.

News of Belenky’s detention emerged in October 2025. He had lived in Bulgaria since 2015 and regularly traveled back to Russia. Russian authorities detained him at Sheremetyevo Airport in September 2025 and initially arrested him on a charge of minor hooliganism before charging him with financing terrorism. The Investigative Committee, Russia’s federal investigating authority, reported that between January 2023 and March 2024, Belenky transferred more than 60,000 rubles in cryptocurrency to accounts whose details blogger Arkady Babchenko had circulated online. According to the agency, the funds went to Ukraine’s armed forces and to an organization that Russian authorities have designated as terrorist.

In October 2025, the Investigative Committee sent Binance a request citing the criminal cases it had opened under a terrorism statute and demanding information on six exchange clients who had sent funds to the wallet address Babchenko had published, according to Department One’s report.

Binance provided a file with a detailed history of Belenky’s account dating back to its registration, according to Department One. The file included his personal data, scans of his Russian passport and Bulgarian residence permit, an overview of his account balances on the exchange, internal transfers between accounts, and a history of cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals, among other details.

Investigators initially knew of six transfers Belenky had made to the accounts Babchenko published. After Binance turned over its report, the final indictment attributed nine additional transfers to Belenky, bringing the total to 15 transactions.

The Investigative Committee sent its request to Binance at [email protected], according to Department One. Belenky’s defense attorney wrote to the same address asking the exchange to confirm the authenticity of its response to investigators. Binance replied that it “does not accept legal inquiries by email” and said it does not disclose information about third parties without a legal basis. Responding to an official request from Department One, Binance pointed to its privacy policy on the transfer of personal data.

Human rights activists believe Russian security officials first learned of Belenky’s donations through the chat attached to Arkady Babchenko’s Telegram channel, where users reported their transfers and received confirmations from the channel’s administrator. Officials then reviewed the history of incoming payments to the wallet Babchenko had published. After the Investigative Committee announced its criminal case against Belenky, Babchenko said he had never received any donations from him.

“At the time of the Investigative Committee’s request, Binance was in the process of applying for a MiCA license in Europe, which is required to continue operating in the EU and to legally serve EU residents. One of the conditions for obtaining a MiCA license is compliance with European regulators’ requirements. Transferring data directly to Russian authorities without an MLAT basis violates at least five articles of the General Data Protection Regulation,” Department One said.

Reuters reported in April 2022 that Binance had already agreed in 2021 to a request from Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) to share client names and addresses to help combat crime. At the time, Rosfinmonitoring was also trying to track cryptocurrency donations to Alexey Navalny and his supporters. Navalny’s team had urged backers to donate through Binance, among other platforms. Binance representatives said the company does not cooperate with Rosfinmonitoring and had received no requests from Russian authorities regarding Navalny.

Binance announced its withdrawal from Russia in October 2023.