Binance to block Visa and Mastercard transactions issued in Russia

Binance will block Visa and Mastercard transactions issued in Russia. The restrictions take effect on 9 March at 21:00 UTC (midnight 10 March Moscow time).

All Mastercard and Visa Cards issued in Russia will be unavailable on #Binance effective 2022-03-09, 21:00 UTC.https://t.co/gFixDDeIzy

— Binance (@binance) March 8, 2022

«All transactions initiated using Mastercard and Visa cards issued in Russia will be unavailable on Binance. In addition, all operations with Mastercard and Visa cards initiated by financial institutions outside the Russian Federation will also be unavailable within the Russian Federation on the platform», the statement said.

A Binance spokesperson told ForkLog that the restrictions apply solely to the exchange’s fiat-crypto service. In P2P trading, clients may use cards issued by Russian banks. The exception is sanctioned credit institutions.

Earlier, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said the platform complies with sanctions against Russia but does not intend to restrict access to the platform for those not on the sanctions lists.

As a reminder, the company also said it does not intend to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts.

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