London-based cryptocurrency exchange Exmo has officially suspended its operations in Russia and Belarus.
Exmo announced that it is selling its business to a Russian software company. At the time of writing, the new owner and the size of the deal were not disclosed.
“Unfortunately, we can no longer hold on to the high-risk part of the business because the global group does not want to put its global expansion plans at risk by keeping such high-risk markets in its structure,” said Exmo CEO Sergey Zhdanov.
According to Zhdanov, the deal includes the transfer of Exmo customer accounts in Russia and Belarus, as well as local fiat systems. The technical code of the platform is not sold and is fully owned by the Exmo group.
As part of the transaction, Exmo’s ultimate beneficial owner, Eduard Bark, is also leaving the company, transferring his stake to Zhdanov.
Exmo is also selling its stake to Kazakhstan.
The CEO noted that the unnamed buyer owns both a Russian software development company and a Kazakh cryptocurrency exchange entity.
“We have invested a lot in the Russian part of the business, so we made sure that it is now in good hands. The new owner is not only following the roadmap that we drew up earlier, but it will get to new heights much easier. We made this decision in the interests of both parties,” said Zhdanov.
The company said it would not sanction ordinary people or block any accounts because of sanctions.
Exmo also said that residents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will no longer be able to connect to the platform. The exchange disabled trading pairs with the Russian ruble on April 15.
Exmo is a major cryptocurrency exchange founded by Russian entrepreneurs Ivan Petukhovsky and Pavel Lerner back in 2013. The firm’s exit from Russia will have a significant impact on the exchange, since Russia was one of its main markets, Zhdanov acknowledged.
“A significant portion of our business was in Russia. We will face a drop in revenue of almost 30%. However, in the long term, we are confident that this will accelerate our exponential growth and allow the company to become a unicorn in the next three years. We will consider a return when Russia is no longer classified as a high-risk country,” Zhdanov said.