Key takeaways:
- Users were urged to withdraw their assets as soon as possible after Binance announced its exit from the Netherlands.
- Existing Dutch users will only be able to withdraw funds from the Binance platform starting on July 17.
Binance, a major cryptocurrency exchange, has ended its operations in the Netherlands, leaving the country after failing to secure a license as a virtual asset service provider (VASP).
No new customers from the Netherlands may open an account with the cryptocurrency exchange after the services have been terminated, which takes effect immediately. Existing Dutch users will only be able to withdraw funds from the Binance platform starting on July 17; no new purchases, trades, or deposits will be allowed after this date.
According to Binance, it looked into a variety of other options for providing services to Dutch citizens in accordance with local laws. However, none of these routes provided a way to register for VASP. Dutch users of the cryptocurrency exchange are currently receiving emails from the exchange with detailed instructions on what they should do next with their Binance accounts.
For operating in the nation without the necessary license and registration, the cryptocurrency exchange was hit with an administrative punishment of more than $3 million in April 2022. At the time, the Dutch central bank asserted that Binance had a sizable user base in the nation and a sizable daily trading volume that reached the billions, hence the severe fine.
In its release, the cryptocurrency exchange emphasized that it complies with all regulations set down by the European Union regarding the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In order to demonstrate its compliance with EU regulations, Binance mentioned its registration in EU nations like France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden, and Lithuania.
Binance Cyprus was listed as “under examination for application for deregistration” on the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission website on June 14.
The legal problems for Binance are only getting worse; the company is suspected of doing insufficient money laundering inspections and providing digital asset services to local clients without a license. Under the direction of the specialized interregional jurisdiction of Paris, the judicial investigation service of finance is conducting this investigation. The inquiry was reportedly based on acts of illegally acting as a service provider on digital assets (PSAN) and acts of aggravated money laundering by the Paris Prosecutor’s Office.
