Binance Forced out of Ontario for Trading Unregistered Securities

Binance has informed Canadian regulators it will stop taking on new customers in Ontario and commit to cease trading for existing ones.

The biggest exchange in the world by trading volume was forced to close its doors by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) after failing to cease trading unregistered securities.

According to the commitments and acknowledgments document sent to the OSC by Binance, the exchange will no longer be opening any new accounts or permit trading in the Ontario region. 

Binance will also have to commit to “providing fee waivers and offering fee reimbursements to certain Ontario users,” and stop marketing its products.

In a statement released yesterday, the OSC said: “This undertaking represents a legally enforceable commitment by Binance to the OSC. The OSC reserves the right to take enforcement action against Binance for any past, present, or future breaches of Ontario securities law not arising from the events described in the undertaking,” 

Binance’s problems go back to last summer

The exchange fell foul of the regulator last summer. In June 2021, Binance told its customers it would withdraw its services from Ontario and advised users to close any open positions by the end of the year.

But on Dec 29, the exchange told its clients it was allowed to continue operating. In an undertaking to the OSC, Binance “now acknowledges that was not correct.”

The OSC said that no entity in the Binance group of companies had any form of securities registration in the province. “This continues to be the case,” the OSC added in yesterday’s statement. 

Binance also admitted the customer service team “tweeted inaccurate information,” advising an Ontario user that they could trade in the new year as normal. 

According to Reuters, the exchange also withheld information and kept weak money-laundering checks even as it encouraged government oversight. 

The exchange has played on the boundaries of regulation on numerous occasions times due to its innovative and unregulated products. 

Binance was recently granted a license to operate in Dubai by the emirate’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). The BNB Smart Chain has also been performing overtime, surpassing Ethereum transactions by 120 million.