Users of Binance Australia Derivatives have reported that the digital asset platform abruptly notified them on February 23 that it is beginning to close certain derivatives positions and accounts.
Users who did not satisfy the requirements to be a “wholesale investor” were informed that their positions would be closed and they would no longer have access to the Binance Australia Derivatives platform.
Binance closed derivative positions for many Australian users abruptly #Australia #binance pic.twitter.com/4t1gL08oK6
— Moidul Islam (@Mi_moidulislam1) February 23, 2023
Subscribers were told that they needed to send in the necessary paperwork to be considered “wholesale investors” and be able to keep using the Binance Australia Derivatives platform.
Binance Australia Derivatives is developing a remediation and compensation plan for users to whom it owes refunds due to the update. The subsequent actions were legal in Australia, so those affected were contacted immediately, and their accounts were closed.
Our team identified a small number of Australian users who were incorrectly classed as ‘Wholesale Investors’ on Binance.
As per Australian regulation, we were required to inform these users and close any of their own derivative positions with immediate effect.
— Binance (@binance) February 23, 2023
Oztures Trading Pty Ltd trades under the name Binance Australia Derivatives. Oztures is a corporate authorised representative of Binance’s local affiliate in Australia. In its official overview published in July of 2022, it is abundantly clear that derivatives products are only available to wholesale clients in Australia.
However, users responded to Binance’s tweet, with one Australian user alleging they could no longer stake their cryptocurrency due to regional issues. Another user claimed that flexible earn was no longer available in Australia, prompting the Binance support team to investigate.
Australia reinforced its crypto watchdogs in early February as part of its “multi-stage” strategy to combat fraud.
