Binance Leaves The Netherlands, What About Other EU Countries?

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, received another setback today. The exchange said it has been forced to pull out of the Netherlands because they were unable to register as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) with the Dutch regulator.

A tweet from the official Twitter account reads, “We regret to announce that Binance is leaving the Dutch market as we have been unable to register as a VASP with the Dutch regulator.”

Binance Says Goodbye To The Netherlands

Binance also says it remains committed to working with regulators around the world. The exchange also wants to focus on preparing its business to be fully MiCA compliant, the announcement says. The failed registration with the Dutch regulator comes as a surprise in that the exchange led by CEO Changpeng Zhao has already been licensed as a VASP in other European countries.

Binance already meets EU standards for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing in other EU countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania. In Germany, the crypto exchange had filed an application with the relevant authority (BaFin) in September 2022.

Regarding the problems in the Netherlands, Binance said in an official statement that it has gone through an extensive registration process. Although the exchange “explored many alternative ways” to serve Dutch residents in compliance with Dutch regulations, this did not result in VASP registration in the Netherlands.

However, the statement said Binance will continue its efforts to obtain approvals in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, Dutch users have received an email informing them of the implications of the news for them and what steps they need to take.

Binance will no longer accept new users residing in the Netherlands with immediate effect. From 17 July 2023 at 00:00 UTC, existing users residing in the Netherlands will only be able to withdraw assets from the trading platform. No further purchases, trades or deposits will be possible.

The exchange also encourages its Dutch users to take appropriate action by withdrawing assets from their accounts.

Binance Facing Headwinds

As Bitcoinist reported, Binance is currently under scrutiny in several countries. In addition to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing a lawsuit against Binance US, the exchange’s Cyprus unit of Binane has filed a request to be removed from the Cyprus Registry of Crypto Asset Service Providers, as became public on Wednesday.

It is currently unclear when and why the exchange filed the deregistration request. The world’s largest exchange had only announced its registration with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission in October 2022.

At press time, the BNB price stood at $237.2. As per NewsBTC, rumors emerged in recent days that Binance was spot-marketing bitcoin to prop up BNB. However, there is no clear evidence, only the suggestion that a liquidation of the exploiter of the BSC’s Bridge on the Venus Protocol should be prevented at $220 dollars.

Featured image from Alexander / Unsplash, chart from TradingView.com