Binance continues to partly shut down services in a number of countries amid ongoing global regulatory scrutiny
The world’s largest crypto exchange by volume, Binance announced yesterday that it will be limiting operations in Australia to abide by local regulations. The island country is the latest addition to the list of nations including Singapore, the UK, Brazil and parts of Europe where Binance is facing regulatory barriers.
In a notification, Binance told its Australian users to reduce and close their positions for crypto futures, options and leveraged tokens on the exchange within 90 days. All open positions post-December 23rd 2021 will be closed by the exchange.
Services with respect to opening new or increasing currently held positions on derivatives will be suspended in Australia from 24 September, the exchange explained. Further, the announcement assures users that they will be allowed to continue to top-up margin balances to prevent margin calls and liquidations.
“We proactively review our product offerings and activities on an ongoing basis, against user demand, evolving regulatory requirements, and future opportunities, to determine changes and improvements,” a Binance representative told CoinDesk.
The decision to cease offering futures and options follows the restrictions that were imposed by Binance on new accounts seeking to engage in options, margin products and leveraged tokens in Australia last month. Further, the crypto exchange also halted crypto margin trading that included pounds sterling, the euro and the Australian dollar earlier this year.
Similar restrictions to those being implemented in Australia were seen in July across the European region including Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Binance has also suspended derivatives trading in Brazil and faced multiple warnings from regulators in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Addressing the regulatory barriers in the last few months, the exchange stated that it was committed to creating a sustainable blockchain ecosystem and welcomes developments to regulatory frameworks as they promote innovation.
“We are committed to working constructively in policy-making that seeks to benefit every user,” Binance concluded.
