Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been down for the past few months in many countries come under fire from regulators. It would in many cases not have the proper licenses to operate in these countries. Now De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has also issued a warning to the yellow giant.
In a just published update DNB states that Binance does not have the mandatory registration to be allowed to operate as a crypto service provider in the Netherlands. DNB states:
“De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) announces that Binance offers crypto services in the Netherlands without legally required registration with DNB. That means Binance is acting in violation of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act (Wwft) and illegally: (1) offers services for exchanging between virtual currencies and fiduciary currencies, and (2) offers custodian wallets.”
According to DNB, this puts customers at an increased risk of becoming involved in money laundering or terrorist financing. It is not clear exactly what consequences the warning will have for Binance. However, it has recently become clear that Binance all sails to comply with applicable laws and regulations worldwide.
Binance has previously set SEPA deposits and withdrawals silent. As a result, Europeans can no longer easily deposit and withdraw money with their IBAN accounts. It has also been no longer possible to deposit money with iDeal for a long time.
Nevertheless, the exchange is still popular with many traders and investors because it has a huge range of altcoins. Dutch people who bitcoin (BTC) or want to buy other crypto can also search closer to home. Bitvavo, a Dutch exchange that does have the correct DNB registration, today added a large number of new cryptocurrencies to its platform, offering an interesting alternative to Binance.
Update: In the meantime, Binance has informed Crypto Insiders that it will submit an application to DNB. A Binance spokesperson wrote in a response:
“We are aware of a report from DNB about Binance in the Netherlands. As part of our commitment to redouble our compliance efforts, Binance is in the process of submitting an application for the required registration. We will work constructively with DNB and hope to provide a positive update in the near future.
Binance takes compliance very seriously and although we are not yet formally registered with DNB, we have a robust compliance program with tools and procedures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
We emphasize that it is critical to Binance that the interests of our users remain protected.”
–
