Key takeaways

ASIC searched Binance Australia’s offices

The offices of Binance Australia, the Australian arm of Binance, were searched on Tuesday by the country’s financial markets regulator.

This latest cryptocurrency news comes as governments around the world are scrutinising the cryptocurrency exchange’s activities.  

According to a Bloomberg report, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission searched several Binance Australia locations on Tuesday. The search was part of an ongoing investigation into the cryptocurrency exchange’s now-defunct derivatives business, sources close to the matter revealed to Bloomberg. 

Binance has been experiencing crackdowns from governments in Europe and the United States. Last month, the US SEC sued Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, for breaking securities laws. 

On June 22nd, Brazilian authorities revealed that they were investigating Binance for suspected pyramid schemes. Binance is also being investigated for helping customers get around a restriction on crypto derivatives investments in Brazil.

A few days later, Binance dropped its licence application in Austria after the German regulators denied its application to operate in the country. 

External pressure is hurting Binance, says CZ

At a Twitter Space on Wednesday, Binance CEO, CZ, admitted that the external pressure is hurting the company. He stated that;

“Many of those things are outside of our control, but short term, they have negative impacts on our business.”

Despite the pressure, Binance remains the number one cryptocurrency exchange in the world. However, its global share of crypto spot trading fell for a fourth consecutive month in June. Data obtained from CCData showed that Binance now controls 42% of the global crypto spot trading volume, a 10-month low for the company. 

The ASIC investigation comes after Binance Australia announced in April that it would wind down the local derivatives exchange while keeping its spot platform open. 

At the time, Binance said it closed the derivative positions of numerous Australian users because they were falsely classified as wholesale investors.

A spokesperson for ASIC stated that

“We are unable to confirm or deny any operational detail such as possible searches. ASIC’s review of the company is ongoing.”

The cryptocurrency exchange said it is working with local authorities, and its sole focus is to meet local regulatory standards in order to serve its Australian users in a fully compliant manner.