The regulator mentioned that such violations are held serious and won't go unpunished.
Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange by trading volume, has been recently issued a fine of 3.3M euros, estimated at $3.4M, by the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), following the trading platform's objection to the administrative fine imposed back in April.
According to the official statement released on July 18th, the DNB fined the trading platform because it continued to offer local crypto services to Dutch residents, while not having required registration with the authority.
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As stated by the central bank of the Netherlands, all companies offering crypto-related services must be registered with the DNB under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act.
With this in mind, Binance has already submitted for registration, while the DNB has agreed to reduce the total amount of the fine by 5%. Currently, it's not clear whether the crypto giant paid the fine.
In fact, the bank had already issued a warning to Binance last year. The authority decided to increase the fine from 2M euros because the crypto exchange had more users in the Netherlands, while its daily trading volumes reached $13.7B.
A spokesperson for Binance noted that the administrative fine marks the beginning of the long-awaited relationship between both parties, as well as the company’s engagement with global regulators. The representative mentioned:
“While we do not share the same view on every aspect of the decision, we deeply respect the authority and professionalism of Dutch regulators to enforce regulations as they see fit. With this now behind us, we can continue pursuing a more traditional operating model in the Netherlands.”
In other news, earlier in July, Binance dodged a bullet from the Philippines' Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) when the regulator decided to not prohibit the crypto exchange from operating in the Philippines.
On top of that, the Changpeng Zhao-led trading platform has recently scored another VASP license in Spain, following its arrival in Italy and France.
