Binance shuts down its Australian derivatives services

Binance’s Australian financial services license is ending, meaning Australian residents will no longer be able to open derivatives positions on the exchange.

104 users affected

Binance has its hands full with regulators around the world.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission announced today, leading global crypto exchange Binance would no longer allow Australian customers to hold trades in crypto derivatives.

According to the press release, ASIC yesterday received a request from Oztures Trading Pty Ltd – trading as Binance Australia Derivatives – to terminate its financial services license in Australia. The decision to end derivatives trading for Australian residents was therefore made by Binance itself.

From 14 April, Australian residents will no longer be able to open new derivative positions on the platform, or increase existing ones. All remaining open positions will be closed by Binance on April 21st.

ASIC indicated that it had conducted a “targeted review” of Binance’s operations in Australia. “It is critically important that AFS licensees classify retail and wholesale customers in accordance with the law,” ASIC chairman Joe Longo said. “Retail customers trading crypto derivatives are afforded important rights and consumer protections under financial services laws in Australia, including access to external dispute resolution through the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.”

Binance stipulated, in the terms of the license cancellation, that the decision should have no impact on the exchange’s requirement to continue as a member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority until April 2024.

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao took to Twitter to indicate that Binance’s loss of license would only affect 104 users and that the decision had no impact on Binance’s Australian spot trading platform.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH and several other crypto assets.