Regulatory Issues: Binance Halts Futures & Options Trading in Australia

Binance today 21 September 2021 announced that it would soon stop offering access to futures, options and leveraged tokens trading for its users in Australia. Existing users have 90 days to close their positions.

According to the official announcement released by Binance exchange, the largest crypto exchange by volume would be suspending accessibility to futures, options and leverage tokens to its users in Australia.

Leverage tokens is a derivative product that traders could use to gain some level of leveraged exposure/position to crypto assets without the high level of risks attached to liquidation.

The announcement stated:

“As Binance constantly evaluates its product and service offerings to comply with local regulations, we will cease offering the following products to existing Australian users: Futures, Options, Leveraged Tokens.”

The announcement also revealed that Aussies would have a maximum of 90 days to close their positions on these trading products. If clients fail to exit their positions by December 23rd, 11:59 PM (UTC), they will no longer be able to manually interact with them after that – all remaining open positions will be automatically closed.

Binance compliance issues

The announcement came a few weeks after the exchange restricted new accounts in the country from options, margin products, and leveraged tokens. Also in July, Binance suspended margin trading using sterling, the euro, and the Australian USD in compliance with local regulations.

Despite efforts that the exchange has taken to become more regulatory compliant, its regulatory troubles remain unchanged. According to recent report Binance exchange and its staff could be under investigation by the CFTC for possible insider trading.