Former Binance Russia Head Vladimir Smerkis Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Fraud

On May 13, according to Bits.media, the Presnensky District Court of Moscow sentenced Vladimir Smerkis, former head of Binance Russia and co-founder of the Blum crypto platform, to five years in prison. The court found him guilty of "fraud on a particularly large scale" under Article 159, Part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to the prosecution, in June 2024, trader and crypto blogger Oleg Polunin asked Smerkis for help in driving traffic to his social media. Smerkis promised to bring about 2 million new users, collected over 8.8 million rubles, but failed to fulfill his obligations and misappropriated the funds. The verdict is not yet final and can be appealed. Smerkis was arrested a year ago. He served as the regional head of Binance from early 2022 to September 2023, after which he and another former Binance regional manager announced the launch of the clicker game Blum. On the day of his arrest, the Blum team announced his departure.