China reportedly remains a lucrative market for the crypto exchange Binance, even as the country made digital asset trading illegal in 2021.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Binance users in China traded $90 billion worth of crypto-related assets in the month of May alone two years after the ban. The news outlet says it has reviewed internal numbers from the exchange.
That volume makes the East Asian country the platform’s largest market, accounting for 20% of its global volume, excluding the trades of very large traders.
Citing current and former Binance employees, the report also says China’s importance is openly discussed within the organization. The company’s investigative team also continues to work closely with Chinese authorities to identify possible criminal activity among the platform’s 900,000 active users in the country.
Internal documents also show how Binance helps users get around restrictions by directing them to websites with Chinese domain names before redirecting them to the global exchange. The documents outlining the proceedings circulated within the company after authorities blocked the platform’s website in 2017.
A Binance spokesperson countered the report, telling the Wall Street Journal that Chinese users cannot access Binance.com.
“The Binance.com website is blocked in China and cannot be accessed by China-based users.”
China has declared crypto-related transactions illegal, citing security and social stability reasons. After the government stepped up the crackdown in 2021, Binance said China-based user accounts would only be switched to withdrawal mode, which would not allow trading transactions.
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