Binance to close derivatives in selected European countries

Last Friday, July 30, cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced on its website the discontinuation of Futures and Derivatives Products in European countries such as Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. 

Users from the said countries won’t be able to open new futures or derivatives products accounts as a result of enormous regulatory pressure over consumer protection. 

Derivatives are assets whose value is agreed upon by parties through a certain financial asset. On the other hand, Futures contracts are dealt with at a fixed price that will be bought at a later date based on the agreement to buy or sell any investment.

According to Binance’s post, users will have 90 days to close their open positions on the platform, beginning on a date to be disclosed later. 

Binance then further discussed the issue on a now-deleted tweet: ‘The European region is a very important market for Binance, and it is taking proactive steps towards harmonising crypto regulations, which is a positive sign for the industry.’

Meanwhile, the Binance operation in Asia is also affected by the sudden crackdown. Malaysia’s Securities Commission (SC) halted Binance’s operation in the country amid the crackdown by ordering the crypto exchange to remove its website and mobile apps from Malaysia within 14 business days from July 26.

According to Coindesk, the Malaysia Securities Commission stated that Binance was operating a digital asset exchange illegally.

‘Those who currently have accounts with Binance are strongly urged to immediately cease trading through its platforms and to withdraw all their investments immediately,’ stated by the Malaysia Securities Commission.

Moreover, Binance announced on Monday, July 26, that it would no longer allow cryptocurrency margin trading in the Australian dollar, euro or sterling. After regulators tightened down on Binance’s stock tokens sales, the crypto exchange stated that it would no longer offer digital tokens associated with shares. 

The exchange’s maximum leverage that users can use to trade futures contracts will be reduced from 100x to 20x. Despite recent regulatory challenges, Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao is confident about the exchange’s future by looking forward to Binance US going public. 

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