Binance Belgium Resumes Operations Three Months After Regulatory Ban

Binance Belgium, the Belgian wing of the world’s largest crypto exchange,  has reopened its operations three months following a ban from the nation’s financial market regulator. On June 23, Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) directed the exchange to cease offering services to the Belgian market because it operates from nations outside the European Economic Area (EEA). 

Binance Belgium Resumes With New Terms of Use

Via a post on X on September 25, Binance Belgium announced the re-commencement of its operations in the Western European nation. 

In this post, the Binance subsidiary stated that it is now accepting new registrations from Belgian residents. Furthermore, all previously registered Belgian users who agree to the company’s new Terms of Use will be granted access to its various products and services. 

However, Binance Belgium did not give much explanation to this “new Terms of Use.”

Dear Binancians 🇧🇪

We are delighted to announce that as of today, new registrations of Belgian residents are welcome on our platform once again.

In addition, various Binance products and services are accessible again to Belgian users who have accepted our new Terms of Use.

— Binance België (@binanceflemish) September 25, 2023

In August, Bitcoinist reported that Binance was redirecting all Belgian users to its Polish Arm to satisfy the regulatory requirements proposed by the FSMA. 

This is because Binance operated as a registered virtual assets service provider (VASP) in Poland, a member nation of the European Economic Area. 

Under this new arrangement, it was stated that registered Binance Belgium users may need to undergo the know-your-customer (KYC) process again and agree to the Terms of Use of Binance Poland.

However, in the latest announcement by Binance Belgium, there was no mention nor acknowledgment of this arrangement with the exchange’s Polish wing. 

Nevertheless, Binance’s resumption of operations in Belgium is an exciting development for its 150 million customers worldwide, especially considering the global regulatory pressure on the exchange. 

Binance Regulatory Troubles 

In recent months, Binance, which ranks as the world’s largest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume, has been facing regulatory hurdles in several nations, including Germany, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Austria, and the US, among others.

Most notably in the US, the exchange finds itself contesting 13 charges in a legal battle with the nation’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Recently, the embattled Binance.US experienced an efflux of top executives, prompting many speculations on the company’s future.

However, Binance global CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao addressed these concerns, stating that these changes were needed to guide the exchange through its present troubles. 

In more good news for the Binance community, the exchange’s Japanese branch is collaborating with the trust banking arm of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and the Progmat coin platform to launch a new stablecoin. It is expected that this new stablecoin will denominated in the Japanese Yen (JPY) and the US Dollar (USD).

Total crypto market valued at $1.024 trillion on the hourly chart | Source: TOTAL chart on Tradingview.com

Featured image from NW Flags, chart from Tradingview