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.

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. Waves is well known in crypto.

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 provided an overview of measures. Measures against Binance are currently being announced daily by various countries. Yesterday, for example, it hit hard again. For example, Binance was banned from Malaysia and the authorities of India even opened 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 had no official headquarters and founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ for short) seemed to see the humor in that.

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. Holo Crypto is well known in crypto.

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 registry. 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 options to pay with iDeal and/or SEPA transfer have been 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 can no longer just change 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. The crypto exchange also announces more restrictions for the so-called Bitcoin derivatives.

Is Binance still interesting for Dutch traders in crypto?

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, consider an alternative, as discussed by our colleagues from Tradeincrypto.com (under 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 still be trusted and what further impact future actions will have ions from regulators. In short, your own research is best here too, although a free ‘reserve account’ on another exchange is always worth considering.

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You can always follow the developments yourself with our WANT crypto analyzes or the background articles and previews on the crypto market and Bitcoin. Of course you can also follow the live prices 24 hours a day if you want to stay informed in real time.