Binance has restricted derivatives offering in yet another country, this time in Australia. The crypto exchange announced on Thursday that it is restricting Australian clients from opening new accounts for options, margin products and leveraged tokens.
The latest move is an extension of Binance’s already imposed restriction on Australian users from opening new futures accounts. It also stopped offering crypto margin trading with the Australian dollar, along with pound sterling and euro.
“Binance constantly evaluates its product and service offerings,” the exchange stated in the announcement. “Binance will be one of the first major cryptocurrency and digital assets exchanges to proactively restrict access to derivatives products to Australian users, in-line with our commitment to compliance and our plans to become a regulated financial institution.”
Binance's Dominance Is Threatened
Earlier, Binance stopped offering derivatives trading in Hong Kong and three European countries: Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. In addition, it has plans to restrict the distribution of derivatives products across Europe.
While many regulators are going after Binance for illegally offering crypto products without gaining local financial services licenses, the Australian regulator did not directly warn Binance.
However, the latest exit came only a day after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission issued a general warning against all unlicensed cryptocurrency trading platforms offering services to Aussie traders.
“ASIC has received a number of reports from Australians who have used unlicensed platforms to trade crypto-asset related financial products, such as options and futures, and have experienced significant losses due to excessive Leverage , platform outages, or unfair liquidations,” the regulatory warning stated.
Binance has aggressively expanded its offerings over the past few years both in products and geography. However, the dominance of Binance is now threatened as more than a dozen regulators have issued warnings against the exchange or taken enforcement actions.
“Our aim is to create a sustainable ecosystem around Blockchain technology and digital assets, and we hope that such efforts will help the industry grow in the local market in the long run,” Binance added.
