With each passing day, struggles for Binance suggests no signs of relief and continue to worsen. After the US and European countries, now comes the Australian authorities that have raised fingers of speculation on Binance.
According to local media reports, Binance is facing more trouble in Australia, as regulators in the country have conducted searches at its offices. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) executed the searches on June 4th. The ongoing probe of Binance Australia’s derivatives platform was the reason behind the search.
Sources reveal that one of the points under review is the classification of retail and wholesale clients. On its part, Binance is willing to cooperate with local authorities. The exchange added that it “is focused on meeting local regulatory standards in order to serve our users in Australia in a fully compliant manner.”
Binance Australia has announced its decision to shut down the local derivatives exchanges. It is uncertain whether this action will effectively address the concerns raised by the authorities. The search by the Australian regulator follows the exchange’s decision to stop AUD bank transfers.
Notably, the Australian arm of the exchange has been searching for a banking partner in the region. This search came following a decision by the ASIC to cancel Binance Australia’s derivatives license. Ben Rose, head of Binance Australia, offered some more information on the incident.
The executive claimed that the exchange received less than a day’s warning from the now-former payments provider Zepto before the Australian banking system cut it off.
Notably, Binance has extremely a fair bit of trouble in the past few months and has gone through increasingly difficult challenges at various locations across the globe in the past few weeks. Evidently, the series started with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing an elaborate lawsuit against the exchange.
In its 136-page document, the SEC accused the exchange of operating without a license and offering unregistered securities. It also claimed that Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) commingled users’ funds.
Coming to the European continent, Binance’s European banking partner has withdrawn its support for the exchange. Additionally, it failed to obtain a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in Austria as well as Netherlands where it also subject to a $3 million fine. Simultaneously, French authorities revealed that prosecutors are investigating Binance for operating illegally and aggravated money-laundering activities.
Similarly, Brazilian authorities have raised eyes over the same concerns along with a German regulator which denied Binance the license to operate. All of this proves that Australian authorities aren’t the only ones taking serious action.
However, it is worth noting that, while the SEC had been criticised for its Binance lawsuit, the following actions from regulators across the globe raise an alarm. At first, the SEC had received severe criticism for being antagonistic but with subsequent actions from the regulators, the exchange’s image and compliance standards come into question.