Ex-Binance Russia head sentenced to five years over fraud

A Moscow court has sentenced the former top manager of cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s business in Russia and the region to five years in prison.

Vladimir Smerkis, who was arrested in the Russian capital last spring, was convicted of “large-scale” fraud. He is also a co-founder of the crypto game Blum.

Smerkis set to spend time in Russian penal colony

The Presnensky District Court of Moscow has sentenced Vladimir Smerkis, former chief executive of the Russian branch of the world’s largest crypto exchange, to five years in prison.

The crypto entrepreneur served as Binance’s General Manager for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries between early 2022 and September 2023.

Smerkis, 41, who was arrested on fraud charges in May 2025, will serve his time in a general regime penal colony, the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office announced in a Telegram post on Tuesday.

Also quoted by the crypto news outlet Bits.media, the statement detailed:

“He was found guilty under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code (fraud committed on an especially large scale).”

In June 2024, Smerkis was approached by crypto trader and blogger Oleg Polunin, who sought his assistance for an advertising campaign to increase the audience of his social media channels.

During their negotiations, he promised to attract about 2 million new users for his client and asked for more than 8.8 million rubles (approx. $120,000) as remuneration for his services.

The victim transferred the agreed-upon amount to a crypto wallet provided by Smerkis, who is a well-known member of the country’s crypto community.

However, the former high-ranking executive failed to fulfill his obligations. While, he did not organize the promised campaign, he nevertheless used the funds he received.

Who is Vladimir Smerkis and how he got here?

The Russian judiciary remanded Vladimir Smerkis in custody about a year ago at the request of the investigation into the alleged fraud case.

The five-year prison sentence he has now received is yet to officially enter into force and his defense team may still file an appeal against it in court.

Smerkis left his post at the helm of Binance’s office in Russia when the division effectively ceased operations in late 2023.

Earlier that year, in March, the leading global exchange introduced restrictions for Russian users and in September announced it’s leaving this market.

Amid expanding international sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine resulting in compliance issues, Binance sold its Russian business to the recently established CommEX.

Its Russian users were able to transfer their Binance accounts to the new platform by March 2024. CommEX then suspended these transfers and eventually shut down in May.

Vladimir Smerkis later co-founded the crypto-based game Blum, together with Gleb Kostarev, another former regional manager at Binance.

Kostarev was the coin trading giant’s Regional Head for Eastern Europe, the CIS, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand. Both announced their departures in September 2023.

Blum was launched in 2024 as an alternative to the popular Telegram clicker game Hamster Kombat amid the tap-to-earn craze.

Right after Smerkis was detained, the project’s team announced he was stepping down as its top manager and chief marketing officer.

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