Binance has temporarily suspended Visa and Mastercard withdrawals for Ukrainian users who rely on the Bifinity service, citing changes in legal regulations.
Binance has suspended card withdrawals for users in Ukraine, according to a customer notification sent this week.
The changes took effect on Monday and include a temporary suspension of direct cash withdrawals to bank cards issued by Visa and Mastercard, according to reports from several local media outlets in Ukraine.
A Binance spokesperson confirmed the news to Cointelegraph, stating: “The payment method change announcement applies only to users from Ukraine who previously used Binance services.”
On December 15th, Binance announced to users that its fiat payment provider, Bifinity UAB, would cease service at the end of the month due to regulatory changes. At the time, the exchange explained that this change would affect some fiat payment methods for deposits and withdrawals, but users' ability to deposit, withdraw, buy, or sell cryptocurrencies would continue uninterrupted.
Additional changes for Ukrainian users.
According to Ukrainian media outlets, Binance has also informed users that recurring crypto purchases and limit-bound purchases in fiat currency will not be processed during the suspension period.
However, the basic fiat deposit functionality remains largely unchanged. Ukrainian users can still deposit and purchase crypto using Visa and Mastercard for incoming transactions. Apple Pay and Google Pay can still be used to deposit funds, while Swift transfers continue to support both deposits and withdrawals, according to the report.
"These changes are not related to the National Bank of Ukraine and do not affect P2P operations, which continue as normal," the spokesperson said.
The update also affects the use of Zen.com, a payment platform commonly used for transactions in euros and Polish zloty. Binance says full Zen deposit and withdrawal functionality for Ukrainian users is expected to return on January 6, 2026. Until then, users wishing to transfer funds out of the exchange may have to rely on Swift transfers or other methods such as peer-to-peer transactions, where permitted.
Binance is once again under scrutiny.
Binance is once again under scrutiny after a Financial Times report last week alleged that the exchange allowed a group of suspicious accounts to continue moving crypto funds even after agreeing to tighten controls under a $4.3 billion criminal settlement in the US in 2023.
The report states that 13 linked accounts processed approximately $1.7 billion in transactions since 2021, including about $144 million after Binance signed a plea agreement in November 2023, involving users in various high-risk regions.
