The exchange platform Binance has been fined more than 3 million euros by the Dutch Central Bank. The Central Bank explains that the company continued to offer services in the country even though it was not registered.
In the Netherlands, a fine for Binance
According to the official statement of the Dutch Central Bank, the total fine amounts to 3.25 million euros. Binance should have stopped offering its services without prior approval:
“The fine was imposed because Binance offered cryptocurrency-related services in the Netherlands without legally required registration with the Central Bank. This is prohibited.”
As the Netherlands Bank points out, the fine is not exactly a surprise for Binance. We reported to you in August 2021, the institution had formally warned the company, as did other regulatory bodies. Binance would have furthermore tried to refuse the fine last June.
A fine revised upwards
The basic amount of the fine set by law is 2 million euros. The Dutch Central Bank chose to increase it in the case of Binance, for several reasons. First, the “gravity and increased culpability”, i.e. the extent of the misconduct. Binance continued to operate without authorization for almost a year. On the other, the institution takes into account the considerable place that Binance occupies in the crypto landscape:
“[The Central Bank] included in the fine increase that Binance is the largest cryptocurrency service provider in the world, with a daily trading volume of $13.7 billion, and that Binance has a very large number of customers in the Netherlands. In addition, Binance had a competitive advantage because it paid no fees to the Netherlands Bank and did not have to incur any other costs related to the ongoing oversight by the Bank.”
The Central Bank therefore considers that not only did Binance fail to meet its obligations, but that it allowed it to take advantage of the situation, hence the higher fine. However, the statement points out that a 5% reduction was put in place, because Binance confirmed that the registration process was underway.
