The Binance office in Australia was searched on Tuesday by Australia’s Security and Investment Commission.
This recent cryptocurrency news comes as governments worldwide are becoming more and more cautious about the activities of cryptocurrency exchanges. Considering the current news on Binance, governments around the world are scrutinizing the activities of Binance to ensure that it is being performed according to the laws and regulations of the country’s government.
According to reports, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission searched several Binance locations on Tuesday. The search took place as part of an ongoing investigation into the cryptocurrency exchange’s derivatives business, which is no longer operational.
Binance has been facing backlash over the past couple of months from different countries. Binance was sued by the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for misconduct of not registering the company as an exchange, broker, and clearing agent.
The owner of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, claimed that the SEC did not make these regulations clear to them and that the SEC could not consider the cryptocurrency that was circulated in the secondary market as securities.
Following this lawsuit, Binance lost its payment partner in Europe and failed to get a trading license in the Netherlands. Binance exited from countries like Germany and Cyprus claiming that they wanted to concentrate all their efforts on being familiar with the rules and regulations set by the European government.
On June 22, Brazilian authorities claimed that Binance was being investigated for helping customers get around the restriction on crypto derivatives investments. They also claimed that Binance is using pyramid schemes, a form of investment where one party hires another party of two to invest on their behalf and pay off the other party.
According to the Brazilian Deputy, Alfredo Gaspar, Binance transferred assets on March 11 2023 when The São Paulo Justice stopped R$ 500,000 reais in Binance because they suspected it was involved in a pyramid scheme. He further claimed that Binance was involved with B Fintech and other organizations that had allegations against them for harming Brazilian citizens.
Furthermore, Brazilian authorities claimed that due to Binance’s failure to comply with the rules and regulations of many countries, they are investigating the exchange. Following the investigation of Brazil, Binance also dropped the license application for Austria after Germany rejected the proposal for Binance to operate in the country.
Austria Gmbh, a Binance subsidiary, was established in Austria in 2022 with the aim of obtaining a license for operation. However, with the recent scrutiny of many countries on various sectors of Binance, Binance opted to withdraw its application.
There have also been investigations happening in France and Canada, which resulted in the exiting of the Canadian Subsidiary Binance due to the difference of opinion of the new rules and regulations imposition.
Although Binance is being faced with scrutiny from various countries, it is still the number one cryptocurrency exchange in the world. However, due to the regulations and the introductory fees imposed on the Liquid Binance pairs, spot trading has dropped by almost 70%. Reports state that Binance now holds 42% control on the global cryptocurrency spot trading volume which is a 1/10 to the actual number.
The Australian Securities Investment Commission decided to investigate Binance after its statement in April that it would cut down the local derivatives exchange while still keeping the platform for spot trading open. Earlier, the firm said that they had closed down some of the positions of derivatives, and some of the users were incorrectly tagged under wholesale investors.
Furthermore, they lost their position in Australia as their Australian payment partner refused to continue to work with them. The cryptocurrency Exchange now aims to work with the country’s regulators to fully comply with the rules and regulations of Australia.
Disclaimer: This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
