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 turned over a detailed file on IT specialist Yuri Belenky's account — passport scans, balances, transfer histories — to Russia's Investigative Committee, which is prosecuting him for financing terrorism over cryptocurrency donations to Ukraine's military, according to human rights project Department One. Belenky was detained at a Moscow airport in September 2025; after Binance's disclosure, prosecutors expanded the case from six known transfers to fifteen.

Department One argues the transfer violated at least five GDPR provisions since it bypassed formal international legal channels, complicated by the fact that Binance was simultaneously seeking a European licensing approval requiring EU regulatory compliance. Binance told the outlet it doesn't accept legal inquiries by email and doesn't disclose third-party data without legal basis — a claim in tension with Reuters' 2022 report that Binance had already agreed to share user data with a separate Russian agency tracking donations to Alexey Navalny.

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