Starting from Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, Binance has announced plans to wrap up its futures and derivatives products.
Binance, one of the world’s top cryptocurrency exchanges, made the announcement amid a crackdown by regulators across Europe.
The crypto exchange firm said: “With immediate effect, users from these countries will not be able to open new futures or derivatives products accounts. With effect from a later date to be announced in a further notice, users from these countries will have 90 days to close their open positions,”
The recent crackdown on digital currencies and exchanges globally has put Binance under a lot of pressure. The firm further announced that though it does not actively promote futures and derivatives locally, it plans to scale down access to those products in Europe.
“As the crypto ecosystem evolves globally, we are continually evaluating our products and working with our partners to meet our users’ needs,” it said.
In a tweet, Binance said its decision to wrap up features and [product offerings in Europe was necessary “towards harmonizing crypto regulations, which is a positive sign for the industry.”
“Its decision seems like a preemptive move, aiming to front-run the inevitable clampdown by regulators,” Kaia Parv, head of investment research at Fx Primus, told Yahoo Finance UK. “FCA’s blunt decision in June to ban Binance’s UK business has sent a clear signal to crypto exchanges that the central banks and regulators are keeping an eye on the digital markets.”
The UK Financial Conduct Authority has last month directed the firm to take down all advertising and financial promotions, making it clear that all its regulated operations in Britain were to be done with prior consent.
Less than a week ago, the crypto exchange was also instructed to disable its website and mobile operations in Malaysia on grounds its operations in the country were illegal.
The Malaysian Security and Exchange Commission said Binance is “illegally operating a digital asset exchange,” thus issuing a public reprimand against the exchange despite being included in the “SC’s Investor Alert List in July 2020.”
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