OKX and Bybit Introduce P2P Payment System to Circumvent Sanctioned Russian Banks

Crypto News– reported by Cointelegraph, both Tinkoff Bank and Sberbank have been delisted from the peer-to-peer (P2P) transaction options on Bybit and OKX.

OKX and Bybit Introduce P2P Payment System to Circumvent Sanctioned Russian Banks

Local users in Russia can no longer use Tinkoff Bank or Sberbank accounts for P2P fiat-to-crypto transactions on the platforms of OKX and Bybit.

Currently, OKX continues to support fiat transfers to accounts at the Russian branch of Raiffeisen Bank and the Russian Standard Bank. These institutions are not currently subject to sanctions, as stated by the United States Treasury.

The situation gained public attention when The Wall Street Journal revealed that Binance had included Tinkoff Bank and Sberbank as transfer methods.

Nevertheless, on August 24, both banks vanished from Binance’s P2P platform. The following day, the WSJ reported that these sanctioned banks were completely removed from the list, citing a spokesperson from Binance.

Previously, Binance had allowed Russian customers to utilize five sanctioned Russian banks for payments; however, this option has now been removed due to compliance concerns. Notably, Binance’s P2P service website had listed Ross Bank and Tinkoff Bank as choices for processing payments.

The decision made by cryptocurrency exchanges to exclude sanctioned Russian banks from their payment offerings could have ramifications for Binance’s legal issues in the United States.

The company has been under scrutiny, and reports indicate that the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating whether Binance violated sanctions against Russia.