EXMO Selling Business in Russia and Belarus

London-based crypto exchange EXMO has ceased operations in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. In an apparent reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the exchange has sold its business in Russia and Belarus. In a press release, on Monday, EXMO revealed that they were selling their “digital assets business in Russia and Belarus”.

“It’s been a tough decision for us, since we have spent over eight years building a strong community of crypto enthusiasts throughout the world, adhering to the highest compliance practices and delivering outstanding services to all our clients whenever they lived. However, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, EXMO.com as a global group wishes to avoid risking our global expansion plans by operating in such high-risk markets,” the company explained.

EXMO joins several businesses that have ceased operations in Russia and Belarus following the former’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Financial service providers like S&P Global, American Express, Western Union, Goldman Sachs, Saxo Bank, PayPal, Visa and Mastercard.

The unnamed buyer is a Russian software development company that has previously provided its services to the exchange. The sell includes “around a million users, software, intellectual property and [much] more.” EXMO’s Khazakh clients will be serviced by a Kazakhstan-based EXMO RBK LTD team. Users in the three countries will be able to access services using a new website, EXMO.me., that mimics the layout of the EXMO.com site.

“Kazakhstan clients were also included as a part of the deal since a new team is based in Kazakhstan. The new owner of the Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh digital assets exchange business is the owner of a Russia-based software development company, which was one of the vendors to provide engineering services to EXMO during the last three years,” the press release states.

EXMO CEO Sergey Zhdanov revealed that the move would have a notable impact on the company’s revenue. He estimates that there will be a 30% decrease in revenue. Zhdanov is, however, confident that the company will pull through, forecasting exponential growth and unicorn status in the next 3 years.

The firm has expansion plans that involve a distributed ledger technology (DLT) provider license in Gibraltar, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval in the United Kingdom and money service business (MSB) licenses in 40 US states.