Binance sues RedotPay for $605M over alleged customer diversion scheme

The partnership was supposed to be mutually beneficial. It became a lawsuit.
Binance and RedotPay's 2025 agreement unraveled over allegations of customer diversion and breach of contract terms.
Mark

Why would RedotPay risk its entire IPO by allegedly violating an agreement it had just signed months earlier?

Mimi

Because the incentive to grow was enormous. Every user diverted from Binance Card to RedotPay Card looked like organic growth to investors. It inflated their user numbers and payment volumes right when they were fundraising. The short-term gain of appearing bigger probably seemed worth the risk.

Mark

But they must have known Binance would find out eventually.

Mimi

Yes, and they did—in March 2026. But by then RedotPay had already closed its Series A, secured a billion-dollar valuation, and was deep into IPO preparations. The calculation may have been that by the time the breach was discovered, they'd be too big or too far along to be stopped.

Mark

What does $925 per customer actually mean? How did Binance arrive at that number?

Mimi

It's lifetime value—what Binance estimates each customer would have generated in fees, transaction volume, and engagement over their entire relationship with Binance Card. It's a standard metric in fintech, but it's also somewhat speculative. Different analysts could arrive at different numbers.

Mark

Is there any world in which RedotPay's interpretation of the agreement was reasonable?

Mimi

Possibly. The agreement said Binance funds could be used for "in-app transfers" and other purposes. RedotPay might argue that card top-ups fall within a broad reading of those terms. But Binance says the March 2025 agreement was explicit: funds should be kept separate. That's harder to misinterpret.

Mark

What happens to RedotPay's IPO if they lose?

Mimi

It could be postponed indefinitely. A $472 million judgment would wipe out a significant portion of their valuation. Investors would lose confidence. The company would be fighting in court instead of scaling. An IPO becomes much harder to execute.

Mark

And if they win?

Mimi

They move forward with their listing plans, but the reputational damage lingers. Even if the court sides with them, the fact that Binance felt wronged enough to sue suggests the partnership is dead. RedotPay loses access to Binance's user base, which was a key part of their growth story.

  • Binance alleges RedotPay committed a deliberate breach — not a misunderstanding — by allowing users to funnel Binance Pay funds into RedotPay cards in direct violation of a March 2025 agreement, a practice Binance says it discovered had been ongoing and encouraged.
  • The $472.8 million damages claim, calculated at $925 per diverted user across more than 470,000 accounts, signals that Binance intends to treat customer relationships as quantifiable assets with enforceable legal protection.
  • RedotPay's public defiance — insisting operations are unaffected and citing record user spending — is undercut by quiet internal turbulence: its head of legal resigned weeks before the suit became public, and at least five senior executives have departed within a year of joining.
  • The lawsuit lands at the worst possible moment for RedotPay, which was preparing a US IPO at a projected $4 billion valuation, backed by Accel, Coinbase Ventures, and others who may now reassess their positions.
  • A Singapore hearing scheduled for August 7 could establish early legal precedent for how crypto partnership agreements — and the customer flows they govern — are enforced across jurisdictions.

In the still-maturing world of digital finance, trust between partners remains as fragile as it has ever been in commerce. Three Binance-affiliated entities have brought suit against Hong Kong crypto payments firm RedotPay, alleging that a partnership meant to expand opportunity for both sides was instead used to quietly redirect more than 470,000 customers — and an estimated $472.8 million in lifetime value — away from Binance and toward RedotPay's own products. The case, filed simultaneously in Hong Kong and Singapore, arrives at a moment when RedotPay stood on the threshold of a major public offering, reminding the industry that growth built on contested foundations is growth that courts may yet unwind.

Three Binance-affiliated entities have filed suit in Hong Kong against RedotPay, a fast-growing crypto payments startup, accusing it of orchestrating a systematic diversion of more than 470,000 Binance users to its own card product. Binance is seeking $472.8 million in damages, derived from multiplying the number of allegedly diverted customers by an estimated lifetime value of $925 each.

The two companies had a partnership that was supposed to be mutually beneficial: Binance users would gain access to RedotPay's stablecoin-backed debit cards, while RedotPay would leverage Binance's enormous user base to fuel its own growth. But according to court filings, RedotPay began allowing customers to load Binance Pay funds directly onto RedotPay cards — a use explicitly prohibited under their March 2025 agreement. Binance alleges the practice was not accidental but knowingly permitted and encouraged, and that RedotPay received approximately $304 million in Binance Pay funds, much of it flowing into prohibited card top-ups.

This was not the first time the partnership had collapsed over the same issue. An earlier agreement struck in November 2023 fell apart within six months over identical allegations. The 2025 renegotiation included explicit language meant to prevent a recurrence — language Binance now claims RedotPay violated anyway. More damaging still, fundraising materials from RedotPay's 2024 Series A reportedly highlighted the Binance tie-up as a tool to accelerate user adoption and mentioned direct deposits from Binance Pay — a marketing claim that may have helped secure the company's billion-dollar valuation.

RedotPay, founded in 2023, has grown rapidly: $14 billion in annualized payment volumes, $180 million in annualized revenue, and more than 8 million users. It was preparing for a US IPO at a projected $4 billion valuation, backed by prominent venture firms including Accel, Blockchain Capital, and Coinbase Ventures. The company has denied the allegations and vowed to vigorously defend all claims, but the lawsuit arrives alongside significant internal instability — its head of legal resigned weeks before the suit became public, and multiple senior executives have reportedly departed within a year of joining.

Parallel proceedings have been filed in Singapore, with a hearing scheduled for August 7. The outcome will carry consequences well beyond these two companies, potentially setting the terms by which the broader crypto industry adjudicates disputes over customer ownership, partnership obligations, and the boundaries of competitive conduct.

In Hong Kong, three Binance-affiliated entities have filed a lawsuit against RedotPay, the fast-growing crypto payments startup, alleging that the company orchestrated what amounts to a customer theft scheme. The claim: RedotPay diverted more than 470,000 Binance users to its own payment card product, violating a partnership agreement signed in March 2025. Binance is seeking $472.8 million in damages, calculated by multiplying the number of diverted customers by an estimated lifetime value of $925 per user.

The partnership between the two companies was supposed to be mutually beneficial. Binance users would gain access to RedotPay's stablecoin-backed debit cards—physical and virtual cards that let people spend cryptocurrency at ordinary retailers and online stores. RedotPay, in turn, would tap into Binance's vast user base to accelerate its own growth. The arrangement made sense on paper. But according to court documents filed by Nest Trading Ltd, DistributedTechnologies Ltd, and Chaintecs Consulting Singapore Pte, RedotPay began allowing customers to load Binance Pay funds directly onto RedotPay cards, a use explicitly prohibited under their agreement. This was not a gray area or a technical misunderstanding. Binance discovered the breach in March 2026 and alleges that RedotPay had been knowingly permitting and encouraging the practice.

The timing of the lawsuit cuts deep into RedotPay's ambitions. The company, founded in 2023, has become one of Asia's fastest-growing crypto payment platforms. It secured a billion-dollar valuation in late 2025 and has been preparing for an initial public offering, potentially at a $4 billion valuation. RedotPay has attracted serious venture backing from firms like Accel, Blockchain Capital, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and Galaxy Ventures. Its payment volumes have surged—$10 billion annualized in December 2025, doubling year-over-year, with revenues doubling to $158 million. The company now claims $14 billion in annualized payment volumes, $180 million in annualized revenue, and more than 8 million users. A lawsuit of this magnitude, and the reputational damage it carries, could complicate or derail those public market plans.

RedotPay has denied the allegations, issuing a terse statement that it would "respond through the appropriate legal process" and insisting that the litigation would have no impact on day-to-day operations. A company spokesperson added that RedotPay would "vigorously defend all claims." After the lawsuit became public on August 5, RedotPay posted on its website reiterating that the proceedings would not affect future operations and noting that the company had seen record on-chain spending from users in the past month. The defiance rings somewhat hollow, however, given that the company has been experiencing significant executive turnover. Jonathan Tsang, the head of legal since 2024, stepped down effective July 21. Bloomberg has previously reported that at least five senior hires lasted less than twelve months in their roles.

The partnership history itself tells a story of deteriorating trust. RedotPay first struck an agreement with a Binance affiliate in November 2023. That arrangement collapsed in less than six months over allegations that Binance Pay funds were being used to top up RedotPay cards. The two companies negotiated a new agreement in March 2025, this time with explicit assurances that Binance funds would be kept separate and used only for specific purposes: exchanging crypto for fiat currency, making in-app transfers, or purchasing RedotPay-branded goods. Yet Binance alleges that RedotPay received approximately $304 million in user funds from Binance Pay, much of it flowing into prohibited card top-ups.

RedotPay had leaned heavily on the Binance partnership in its pitch to venture investors. In 2024 Series A fundraising materials reviewed by Bloomberg, the company specifically highlighted its Binance tie-up as a mechanism to "accelerate user adoption" and mentioned that users could make direct deposits to RedotPay cards from Binance Pay. That marketing claim, now at the center of a fraud allegation, may have helped RedotPay secure its billion-dollar valuation. Binance, for its part, has filed suits in both Hong Kong and Singapore. A hearing in the Singapore case is scheduled for August 7. A Binance spokesperson declined to comment on the ongoing litigation but said the company would "use courts and other forums to pursue what is right" where necessary.

What unfolds in these courtrooms will matter far beyond the two companies. The crypto payments space is still finding its footing, and partnership disputes at this scale could reshape how exchanges and fintech firms structure their collaborations. For RedotPay, the stakes are existential: a loss could tank its valuation and derail its IPO plans. For Binance, the case is a statement that it will not tolerate what it views as a breach of trust, even from a fast-growing partner. The outcome will likely set a precedent for how disputes over customer diversion and partnership terms are adjudicated in the crypto industry.

RedotPay is aware of legal proceedings initiated by Binance and will vigorously defend all claims. These proceedings have no impact on RedotPay's day-to-day operations.
— RedotPay company spokesperson
Where necessary we will use courts and other forums to pursue what is right.
— Binance spokesperson
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