Binance to cease crypto futures and options in Australia

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, continues limiting its services amid the ongoing global regulatory scrutiny, announcing new trading restrictions in Australia.

Existing Binance users in Australia will have 90 days to reduce and close their positions for products like cryptocurrency futures, options and leveraged tokens, the exchange announced Sept. 20.

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, the announcement notes.

After Dec. 23, Binance users in Australia will no longer be able to manually reduce or close their positions as all remaining open positions will be closed.

“We are committed to our industry for the long term and we want to ensure our product offerings are welcomed by users and local regulators,” a spokesperson for Binance told Cointelegraph. “We also monitor local regulatory requirements across different markets as Binance operates globally. We want to ensure the process for any transition we make is not disruptive,” the representative added.

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 reportedly halted crypto derivatives trading in Brazil, following similar suspensions on its Hong Kong operations. Previously, Binance suspended derivatives trading for users in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands as part of its broader plans to cease these products across Europe.