does Binance still make sense for Dutch Bitcoin buyers?

Binance is under fire from regulatory authorities. As a result, many Financial Authorities are taking measures against Binance. This also affects Dutch users. We wonder what’s going on. We also wonder whether it still makes sense to use Binance as a Dutch Bitcoin investor. Things in order.

We will of course start at the beginning.

What’s going on at Binance?

Binance has quickly become the largest crypto exchange in the world. Because they are active worldwide, they also have to comply with regulations per country that apply to the trade in crypto coins. That’s what happened at Binance.

Binance has also used various means to keep out oversight and regulation. You can think of moving to a country where the regulations are less strict or facilitating payments too easily. This seemed impossible for a long time.

Financial authorities intervene

The situation is now different. Financial regulators of more and more countries are intervening against Binance. We previously gave a overview of measures. Measures against Binance are currently being announced daily by various countries. Yesterday, for example, it hit hard again. That’s how Binance became banned from malaysia and the authorities of India opened an even a criminal investigation for fraud with gambling apps and facilitating money laundering.

Service providers follow authorities

If we are very careful, Binance has a problem when it comes to compliance, or financial reliability. As a result, more and more financial institutions such as banks and payment providers are suspending cooperation with Binance. As a result, Binance is able to offer fewer and fewer services and users notice that.

How is Binance itself reacting to the situation?

Until recently, Binance felt quite untouchable. For example, in May it was announced that it did not have an official headquarters and founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ for short) seemed to be the humor to see.

Meanwhile, the worldwide clash with the authorities is causing a change of course. The company announced major changes last week. This will create a structure with head offices. They also want to change the way of working. Even founder CZ seems to want to step aside. The question is whether these steps will come in time.

What does the situation mean for Dutch investors on Binance?

First of all, crypto exchanges that offer the option to private individuals in the Netherlands are obliged to register with the AFM. We found no such registration of Binance in the register.

Nevertheless, it is still relatively easy to create an account and trade via Binance. However, a number of opportunities have disappeared due to the battle with regulatory authorities.

For example, the possibilities to use iDeal and/or SEPA transfer payable suspended since mid-July. This means that there are still a limited number of payment options.

Binance also appeared to put a line through the stock tokens trading. This option has already been blocked for new Dutch users. From October 14, existing users no more just changing positions.

Futures trading for Dutch investors is now also prohibited

A new limitation has been added since yesterday. In a statement, it was announced that it is immediately impossible for new users to trade futures via the crypto exchange. Existing Dutch users have 90 days to close their futures positions on Binance. Also announces the crypto exchange more restrictions for the so-called Bitcoin derivatives.

Is Binance still interesting for Dutch traders in crypto?

The question is, of course, whether it is still interesting for Dutch traders in crypto to use Binance.

An answer to that question depends on a number of factors. The first question is what you want to use the crypto exchange for. If you ‘just’ want to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Binance works of course. Also, the fees (0.1% maker and taker if you pay with Euros and 0.075% if you pay with BinanceCoin) are not exceptionally high. You should also realize that you cannot pay with iDeal or SEPA transfer. If you want to, there is an alternative, such as our discussing Tradeincrypto.com colleagues (below the overview with live quotes).

In addition, Binance offers a number of other services (such as investing in mining and crypto loans) that many Dutch parties do not (yet) offer. However, the question is how long this offer will last. After all, further restrictions are announced.

In addition, the question is how long Binance will continue to be trusted and what further impact future actions by regulators will have. In short, here too your own research is best, although a free ‘reserve account’ on another exchange is always worth considering.

PS in connection with current events, this article replaces our crypto coin of the week.

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Note: We never give financial advice, so you can’t interpret our contributions that way. Always do your own research and make rational decisions about whether, when, in what and how much you want to invest.