Binance to discontinue cryptocurrency futures and options in Australia

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has fallen to regulatory pressures again as it announces the discontinuation of cryptocurrency futures and options trading in Australia, the 6th largest country in the world.

According to the announcement, existing Binance users in Australia will have 90 days to reduce and close their futures and options positions. It 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 and Leveraged Tokens.

“Effective from 2021-09-24 09:00 AM (UTC), existing Australian users will have 90 days to reduce and close their positions for these products. Users will be able to top-up margin balances to prevent margin calls and liquidations, but they will not be able to increase or open new positions.”

The announcement notes that effective from Friday, Australian users will no longer be able to increase or open new positions for derivatives products on Binance. Users will still be able to top-up their margin balances to prevent liquidations and margin calls.

After the 90-day period which ends on the 23rd of December, Binance users in Australia will no longer be able to manually reduce or close their positions, as all remaining open positions will be closed.

The announcement further stated, “Our aim is to create a sustainable ecosystem around blockchain technology and digital assets. Binance welcomes developments to our industry’s regulatory framework as they pose opportunities for the market players to have greater collaboration with the regulators. We are committed to working constructively in policy-making that seeks to benefit every user.”

Binance’s latest trading suspensions in Australia follow a series of similar restrictions in other countries amid the exchange facing several warnings from multiple global regulators. In August, Binance halted crypto derivatives trading in Brazil, following similar suspensions on its Hong Kong operations. Binance also suspended derivatives trading for users in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands as part of its broader plans to cease these products across Europe.

Binance’s native token BNB is currently trading at $367.56, down over 10% in the last 7 days, as of the time of this writing.