PANews reported on May 13 that, according to Bits.media, the Presnensky District Court in 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 "major fraud" under Article 159, Paragraph 4 of the Russian Federal Criminal Code. According to the prosecution, in June 2024, trader and crypto blogger Oleg Polunin asked Smerkis to help drive traffic to his social media accounts. Smerkis promised to bring in approximately 2 million new users and received over 8.8 million rubles, but failed to fulfill his promise, misappropriating the funds. The verdict is not yet in effect and can be appealed.

Smerkis was arrested a year ago. He served as Binance’s regional head from early 2022 to September 2023, and later announced the launch of the clicker game Blum with another former Binance regional manager. On the day of his arrest, the Blum team announced his departure.