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- The central bank of the Netherlands has warned Binance and its entities.
- De Nederlandsche Bank thinks Binance was not operating in compliance with the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act.
De Nederlandsche Bank, the central bank of the Netherlands, has warned Binance Holdings Limited and its entities offering crypto services to local residents.
On Wednesday, De Nederlandsche Bank said Binance was not operating in compliance with the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act. The central bank is alleging that Binance customers were at risk of “becoming involved in money laundering or terrorist financing.”
According to the Dutch central bank, Binance is illegally offering crypto services and its custodian wallets without the necessary legal registration. Thus, they sent the notice to Binance Holdings Limited, Binance’s parent company, as well as entities “under which Binance provides crypto services in the Netherlands.” It seems that this would also apply to global crypto exchanges.
Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph the crypto exchange “is in the process of submitting an application for registration” and “will be working constructively” with the central bank to satisfy its requirements.
The spokesperson shared, “It is key to Binance that our users’ interests continue to be protected,”. He added,
Although we are not formally registered with [De Nederlandsche Bank] yet, we have a robust compliance program that incorporates tools and procedures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
Financial regulators in several countries have warned that Binance Holdings Limited does not have proper authorization to provide certain services to residents. A number of authorities including those in Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Germany, Austria, the Cayman Islands, Thailand, Canada, Japan, and Singapore have warned investors to exercise caution concerning Binance, claiming that the exchange is operating illegally.
In addition, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated in a Bloomberg interview on Tuesday that most of his attention was focused on ensuring Binance’s compliance with local regulators as it moves to become a financial institution rather than “the day-to-day operations of the exchange.”
It can be recalled, Zhao has hinted he would be willing to accept a senior person with a strong compliance background to eventually replace him as CEO. He said,
We need to apply for licenses and it’s very important for us to communicate with the regulators’ request for regular meetings where we proactively update them on what we do.