Binance exec chosen to lead crypto expert centre by Russian bank association
Although Binance has halted its services in countries like Israel, citing licensing matters, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume is continuing to strengthen relations with Russia.
Binance has made an official announcement of its entry into the Association of Banks of Russia on February 17, stating that it aims at facilitating dialogue with local authorities, lawmakers and experts in the country’s cryptocurrency industry.
Established in 1990, the association includes more than 300 banks and financial institutions in Russia and covers about 90 percent of its banking infrastructure.
The association’s council has given the nod for Binance’s membership and launched a dedicated expert centre for digital financial assets and digital currencies. The expert centre’s mission has been to prepare professional reviews on the circulation of digital assets in Russia as well as provide the association with expert data on the topic besides reporting on the international experience of handling crypto assets.
Olga Goncharova, Binance’s director in Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), has taken the lead of the association’s expert centre, as approved by its presidium council. Goncharova had joined Binance in January for pushing compliance efforts in Russia and CIS. Before joining the crypto exchange, she had worked as a department director at the Bank of Russia.
The association’s president Georgy Luntovsky has noted that Goncharova would be responsible for proper monitoring of the circulation of digital currencies in Russia, adding that she is a good candidate for leading the platform where the expert community can discuss approaches to the regulation and development of digital financial assets.
Gleb Kostarev, director at Binance’s Eastern Europe division, has also expressed confidence that Binance’s expertise in the crypto market is received positively by Russia’s banking community.
Kostarev said that Russia is on the verge of “a global transformation” where crypto is concerned, and to work with Binance being the largest in the crypto ecosystem would be meaningful.
Binance is also known to have close cooperation with many Russian organizations backed by the state and its local blockchain advocates.
In 2021, Binance had provided its nonfungible token (NFT) platform to Russia’s State Hermitage Museum, helping it raise over $440,000 in an NFT auction of the museum’s tokenized collectibles.
Binance executives have also long been advocating for the crypto industry adoption as part of a Russian crypto lobby group since 2020.
