After Binance left Russia, many Russian traders are looking for new platforms to do their business. Binance’s Russian business was taken over by a company called CommEX. But it's struggling to attract these traders and the trading activity between people (P2P) has dropped by 10% to 30%, according to a business leader, Dmitry Stepanin.
With Binance gone, people are doing less P2P trading and are exploring different places to trade crypto. Binance used to have many daily ruble P2P transaction ads but this number has gone down significantly since they left. Traders are moving towards other platforms like ByBit, Huobi, Bitget, Kucoin, and Gate(dot)io which have seen a rise in user activity. These platforms have been busy trying to attract these new users with different activities and features similar to Binance.
Many people from Russia who like dealing in crypto are looking towards Hong Kong to keep their digital money safe. Merton Lam from CryptoHK commented that crypto is becoming a big part of the investment plans of rich people in the region.
Binance chose to leave Russia mainly due to pressure from American regulators who have accused them of being involved in money laundering and evading sanctions. Although they've left, Sergei Mendeleev, a CEO in the banking sector, pointed out that Binance is not completely leaving Russia but is changing its brand to better its operations in the country through CommEX. There's no official word on whether CommEX is owned by Russian entities.