Binance Fails to Apply for Registration, Slapped With €3M Fine

Today, the Dutch Central Bank/De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) revealed that it imposed an administrative fine of 3,325,000 euros on Binance Holdings Ltd. The reason for this fine is Binance’s failure to legally register its Netherland branch with the Dutch National Bank. DNB imposed this fine on April 25, 2022.

Notably, back in August of 2021, the bank issued a public warning to Binance. The companies that offer crypto services in the Netherlands must register with DNB under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act.

DNB said that Binance has many clients in the Netherlands and is the largest crypto service provider in the world. This made the bank increase the fine rate for Binance, which is close to the maximum rate of 4,000,000 euros.

Also, DNB reported that the crypto company has enjoyed a “competitive advantage as it has not paid any levies to DND, and the violations took place over a long period of time — from May 21, 2020, to at least December 1, 2021.”

However, the bank reduced the fine by 5%, in part because Binance has now submitted an application to register and is relatively transparent about its business operations.

The obligation to register for crypto service providers was introduced on May 21, 2020. The rule came into existence because of the reality that crypto services pose a high risk of money laundering or terrorist financing. DNB’s official blog post read: “This is related to the anonymity that comes with crypto transactions. Without this registration obligation, it is less easy to monitor whether the risk of criminal money flows is sufficiently counteracted.”