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Centralized cryptocurrency exchange Binance has erased Banco de Venezuela as a transaction option for its person-to-person (P2P) trading platform. The move arrives as Binance is looking to align itself with global financial sanctions. The delisting of the Venezuelan bank comes on the heels of the exchange doing the same for several Russian banks.
This action by Binance was catalyzed by an August 24 article in The Wall Street Journal, which exposed the cryptocurrency exchange's role in sidestepping international sanctions. Subsequently, the bank disappeared from the list of payment methods available to Venezuelan users for P2P trades.
Owned by the Venezuelan government since its $1 billion purchase from Grupo Santander in 2009, Banco de Venezuela holds significant weight in the country's financial landscape. As of the late 2000s, it commanded over 11% of Venezuela's banking market. It was hit by U.S. sanctions in 2018 and 2019, following the Venezuelan government's suppression of protests in 2014 and 2017.
Despite the removal of Banco de Venezuela, various privately-owned Venezuelan banks such as Banesco, Banplus, and BBVA Provincial continue to remain on Binance's P2P list of payment methods.
Only a week prior, Binance had removed Russian banks Tinkoff and Sberbank from its P2P platform. These banks vanished shortly after the publication of the Wall Street Journal story. While the logos of these banks were initially taken down, the colors symbolizing their brand identity had lingered for a short period. A Binance representative later confirmed their complete removal from the platform on August 25.
In a domino effect, other prominent cryptocurrency exchanges like OKX and Bybit decided on Aug. 28 to eliminate Russian banks targeted by international sanctions from their list of payment methods.
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