WhiteBIT says it left Russian market in 2022 and denies $11M transfer claims

Beincrypto reports that Ukrainian crypto exchange WhiteBIT has pushed back after Russia’s Prosecutor General designated it an "undesirable organization", saying the exchange stopped operating in Russian territory in 2022. In an official statement WhiteBIT said it "blocked all users from Russia and Belarus, and discontinued trading pairs with the Russian ruble," a move it said cost about 30% of its user base at the time.

Russian authorities have accused the exchange of facilitating illegal transfers and financing Ukraine’s armed forces; WhiteBIT denied the claims that funds came from within Russia, saying "Over the four years of full-scale war, WhiteBIT has donated around 11 million USD of its own funds to support Ukraine’s defense forces and humanitarian initiatives for civilians." The exchange also confirmed it worked with United24 by enabling its Whitepay processor and said WhiteBIT and Whitepay have facilitated more than 160 million USD in crypto donations, while its business has grown more than eightfold.

The coverage notes that crypto donations to Ukraine rose sharply after the invasion: an Elliptic report put NGO and volunteer donations at about $570,000 in 2021, the Ukrainian parliament legalized cryptocurrencies in February 2022, and a 2023 Chainalysis report showed donations to government-provided addresses had grown to nearly $70 million.