In November, Russian traffic surged by up to 20% on several crypto exchanges, with Binance witnessing slower trading volume growth compared to its major competitors. CEX data from WuBlockchain reveals that top exchanges like Huobi, Deribit, Bitget, and Bybit attracted a significant influx of traffic from Russian users, benefiting from Binance's exit from the Russian market. Bybit, in particular, saw nearly 20% of its traffic from Russian users, contributing to a 62.5% increase in spot trading volume in November. Similarly, Bitget experienced a boost with 10% of its traffic coming from Russia, making it the platform's leading traffic source in Europe, accompanied by a nearly 60% increase in trading volume.
Despite Binance's withdrawal from Russia, the country's crypto activities remained robust, witnessing a 53.9% increase in cryptocurrency transactions this year, according to the Bank of Russia. The second and third quarters of 2023 saw nearly 90 million Russian users visiting crypto trading platforms. However, in the midst of the ongoing bull market, Binance's growth lagged behind that of competitors such as Coinbase, KuCoin, and OKX. KuCoin and OKX reported substantial increases of 109% and 93%, respectively, in their spot trading volumes, while Binance saw a comparatively modest 54% increase. The combination of the exit from Russia and recent criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice appears to have significantly impacted Binance's growth trajectory.
